Falter Original
by Arwyn L
Summary: DISCONTINUED IN FAVOUR OF THE REMAKE. Mihoko encounters her Ueno-san once again, three years after their first fateful meeting. Rekindled old feelings surface on her part, but what can or will happen between them now?
1. Deliberation

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

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And let's see, I'm posting supplementary notes, background research, and other miscellaneous things for each chapter of "Falter" on my blog, so go take a look if you're interested. The notes are not necessary in understanding the story, but may be interesting in their own right.

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"I'm sorry, everyone. I have something to take care of today so I can't stay and help," Mihoko apologised.

"Please don't worry about it, Captain. We'll help the first-years clean up."

"Senpai's right, Captain. You do so much for the club already."

"Thank you, everyone. I'll see you all tomorrow then," Mihoko smiled. She nodded kindly at the two first-years who were helping out, and was about to turn to leave when she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, and Yoshitome-san, please tell Kana I left if you see her. She'll probably be looking for me otherwise."

"Okay, Captain. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Captain," the rest echoed.

Mihoko waved to her club members and slid the door close. She made her way down the hall with schoolbag in hand, affably nodding to the few students still wandering and not at their respective club rooms yet. When Mihoko turned a corner and saw the corridor was empty, she allowed her thoughts to wander to more pressing matters. Ueno-san had invited her and the Kazekoshi club regulars to a joint training camp, along with Tsuruga and Ryuumonbuchi's members. Her brow knitted at the thought.

She headed down the stairs distractedly. Ueno-san, who had remembered her from three years prior, had invited her. She headed to the lobby and counted the rows to her shoe locker. Ueno-san had remembered her, despite having only played each other once. Taking out her penny loafers, Mihoko changed into them and slipped her indoor shoes back into her cubby.

Clasping the handle of her schoolbag tightly, she walked out of the building with a brisk trot, oblivious to her surroundings. Thoughts of Ueno-san and the three games they had played filled her head. Mihoko felt a twinge of nostalgia when she imagined the Ueno-san from three years ago once again. Her fiery confidence; her devastating, intense psychological play; her parted hair tied loosely into twintails; her devilish grin and careless charm —

Mihoko shook her head quickly to dispel the thought and roughly pressed a hand to her cheek.

What was she thinking? She was supposed to respond to the invitation in the capacity of Kazekoshi's Captain, not as Fukuji Mihoko. And yet, here she was, fibbing to Yoshitome-san and Bundou-san about having plans just because she was driven to distraction by her inability to make up her mind. The way the club members almost idolised her and what she did only made her feel guiltier. Certainly, it didn't make her decision any easier. Not that she was even anywhere closer to making one. She couldn't even decided whether hurting four club members' feelings or being unable to see Ueno-san was worse.

Mihoko briefly wished she weren't in the mahjong club.

"Captain!"

Mihoko turned and smiled when her eyes locked on the club member. "Watanabe-san! Are you heading home now?"

"Yeah, I have to pick up my little cousin today. I'll make sure I stay later tomorrow. See you tomorrow after school!"

"See you," she called out before she resumed walking toward the station, her thoughts now diverted to Watanabe-san who was doing quite well recently. Mihoko could tell that she had originally joined mostly because her friends had, but it was evident that Watanabe-san had begun to like mahjong after having familiarised herself with the rules and learning how to count quickly. Mihoko smiled at the thought. Was there anything more she could wish for than club members being able to enjoy mahjong?

Her schoolbag hit her thigh rhythmically as she slowed her pace to a stop, bringing her back to her predicament. She clenched the handle moist from her grip and paused briefly before pulling the letter out from her schoolbag. Clasping her schoolbag under her arm, she lightly ran her fingers along her name printed on the front. How had Ueno-san learnt the characters for her name? Mihoko wistfully imagined Ueno-san having gone out of her way to find it out three years ago... then remembered it all this time.

Mihoko laughed at her own stupid, fanciful thinking. Of course, Ueno-san just saw it from the rankings during the prefectural qualifiers this year. Why would she have remembered a random girl's name?

Mihoko uncharacteristically scuffed the sole of her shoe against the road, sending a small pebble careening down the road. She didn't even know why she was still enamoured with Ueno-san. It was indisputable that, yes, she had developed a full-blown crush on Ueno-san three years earlier. But why did the feelings come back so easily now, and why had she continued to look for the name 'Ueno Hisa' at the prefectural qualifiers and nationals the last two years?

Her fascination with Ueno-san had abated by the time she convinced herself that the girl had moved to another prefecture suddenly and abruptly. But to be able to see her this year and to play against her distinctive mahjong playing style once again...

She absently traced 'Ueno Hisa' out on the envelope beside her name with her finger and started to draw an umbrella over the two names before she caught herself.

Sighing reproachfully, Mihoko slipped the envelope back into her schoolbag and began walking again. What was the point? Ueno-san probably wasn't even interested in girls.

Mihoko drew in a deep breath and let it out. Enough moping for one day.

The term was ending in a week, but there were still a lot of things to do. She was going to have a meeting with the coach the day after to discuss the direction of the club, though she knew it was a formality at best, as the coach had ceased to care. The other day, she had overheard the coach negotiating a new contract over the phone. It would not surprise her if Coach Kubo cut her contract with Kazekoshi in pursuit of something more lucrative, before the results from the last two years' prefectural qualifiers dragged her name down. Especially since unseeded schools won both years.

Then the school board would hire another coach in order to maintain the reputation of their mahjong club. It would be better for Kana if that were the case, despite Coach Kubo being a great coach from a purely technical standpoint. The poor girl was terrified of her, as were most of the other members. And rightly so. She brought her hand up to her cheek, in remembrance of the slaps the coach had given freely. Her eye narrowed briefly as a flash of anger overcame her.

She shifted her thoughts. It was hard to believe that she had only been Captain for three, four short months; the responsibility she felt toward her fellow club members weighed on her heavily. So far she managed to find a balance between school work and club activities, but the second term was just around the corner. Whether she could keep up or not and whether she could continue to protect everyone from the coach's ire...

Perhaps it would be better to consider things as they came.

She had yet to proofread her report for her Lit class. She could probably finish doing it before dinner, since for once, she was going home early on a school day. But before that, she would have to make a small detour to the convenience store. Her brother's spring term finals were to start the week her summer vacation began, and they were nearly out of snacks at home. And because he got the munchies whenever he started studying, stockpiling some massive arsenal was in order. Mihoko smiled at the thought. When she entered university next year, she would finally be able to dismiss his usual excuses that studying for college exams meant he expended excessive amounts of energy — energy that required going through, say, a dozen Purin within two days in order to replenish.

There was no guarantee that he wouldn't just polish off the new supply of snacks that she was going to buy, though. Then, Mihoko thought cheerfully, he'd just have to buy his own snacks over the exam period. Mihoko walked into the train station and pulled out her Suica smart card from her bag. She ran the card over the sensor and subconsciously quickened her pace through the ticket gate when she caught a pusher attendant staring intently at her. Deftly raising her hand to her face, she pretended to fix her bangs as she covered the side of her face from his view.

The way he was staring had made her feel uncomfortable. Maybe he had seen the prefectural qualifiers broadcast on the local channel, recognised her, and remembered her habit of only keeping one eye open. There was no helping it, though. At least, she thought, filmed footage made her heterochromia fairly unnoticeable from a distance on LCD screens. It was her Kazekoshi uniform that made him recognise her and stare, she decided, as she fell into line for a train to approach.

She felt a small stone in her shoe. It had probably gotten in on her way to the station. It lodged against her heel dully as she shifted her weight. Mihoko bent down and picked it out as she heard the distinctive pitch of the train's approach. Hopping on one foot, she slipped her loafer back on and hurriedly put her Suica away as several commuters disembarked from the train. So much for being graceful.

Mihoko filed into the train and held onto a handle as the train announcements played. The train was noticeably emptier than usual; it would be a few more hours or so before the rush hour and before her dad returned home. The departure melody played, and Mihoko's thoughts shifted to the supplies she should buy at the convenience store. The train pulled out of the station slowly and sped up, rocking side to side gently. She would call home after she got off and see if her mother needed anything at Sunkus. They were running low on shampoo, too, if memory served her right.

And maybe they could play a few hanchans after dinner, but she was not sure if all four of them would be able to make time for an hour or two of mahjong on a weekday. Mihoko wondered if she would have enough time to finish her report before dinner. She had to type it out after proofreading, after all, and her computer had started to act up recently. It had already been awhile since she got the computer, and even though she had a keyboard cover and tried to use it as infrequently as possible, she knew it would spazz on her sooner or later.

The train pulled into another station, and several passengers got off while a couple of schoolgirls got on. Mihoko recognised their uniform; they were from an all-girls middle school nearby. Glancing askance with her left eye, Mihoko felt slightly envious the girls could text so dexterously. And of course, they didn't have a leather case for their sleek, streamlined phones. She wanted something cuter, something more suitable for a high school girl, not the black leather case she had that heated up uncomfortably in the summer heat.

Mihoko tore her eyes away when her station was announced on the intercom and she edged over to the door. Getting off the train, she waited until she was out the station before pulling out her cell phone and speed dialling home. Mihoko started walking as she waited for her mother to answer.

"Hello, Fukuji residence."

"Mom, it's me."

"Mihoko? Is everything all right? You usually don't call this early."

"I'm fine, I just left school a bit earlier today. I'm heading over to Sunkus right now; do you need anything?"

"Hmm... I think we're fine for now. Oh, wait! Can you get me a copy of _Croissant_? I forgot to buy it last week."

"Okay, mom. Be back soon."

"Be careful on your way home."

Mihoko flipped her phone shut and walked the rest of the distance to the convenience store. Entering Sunkus, she took a red basket from the stack and picked out a copy of the magazine her mother requested, before turning to the aisle for body care products. She grabbed a few bottles of Asience and made a beeline for the snacks section. Mihoko picked out a box of strawberry Pocky for herself and three boxes of dark chocolate Pocky for her brother.

Then she proceeded to grab three bags of Meiji cheese potato crisps, two boxes of Crunky Biscuits, and a box of brown sugar mochi for the whole family. And of course... Purin. Mihoko took ten and put them in her basket. After paying for the goods with her Suica, she made her way home quickly as it was starting to get dark.

Mihoko unlocked the front door and walked in, opening her right eye after the door clicked shut. She blinked a few moments as her eye adjusted to the brightness before locking the door and taking her loafers off. She put on her slippers and propped her schoolbag against the wall.

"I'm back," Mihoko called out as she grabbed two rustling bags full of snacks. She slipped the magazine into the rack before making her way to the kitchen.

"Welcome home," her mother Midori called out without turning. She was cutting vegetables for dinner. "Did you buy a lot of snacks for Takashi? I remembered right after hanging up, but I realised that was probably why you went to Sunkus in the first place."

"I did buy some for nii-san, and I picked up some mochi as well," Mihoko replied as she put most of the snacks into the snack cupboard. "I didn't buy too much though. He just eats more if there's more at home."

"Isn't that the truth." Midori wiped her hands dry. She took some meat from the fridge before pausing and looking at her daughter critically. "Is everything really all right at school, Mihoko? You never come home this early."

"Everything's fine, I just wanted a bit more time with my homework."

"You'll just think I'm nagging again, but you should start attending cram school if you're having trouble now. You have entrance exams to worry about—"

"Mom, I'm fine. I just need more time this week since the term ends soon, remember?"

"Right. But if you need to go to cram school," Midori said while gesturing emphatically with the meat in hand, "there's a good one that Satou-san from next door highly recommends. Your entrance exams are more important than your club activities, even if you're the Captain."

"Okay, I'll think about it." Mihoko placed the folded grocery bags into the drawer and slid it close. "I'm going upstairs now."

Mihoko grabbed the shampoo and darted out of the kitchen. She held the bottles to her chest as she took her schoolbag from the front door. She made her way up the steps quickly before her mother could tell her more about the merits of cram school. It wasn't as though she didn't want to go. But the club was more important now, and she would attend a yobikou to help with her entrance exams only if push came to shove. In the mean time, she would have to make do with supplementary self-study books. She put the bottles away in the cabinet.

Washing and drying her hands off, she entered her bedroom and put her schoolbag down. She flipped the light switch on and unbuttoned her blouse while she nudged the door close with her elbow. She shed her uniform and hung it on the hanger neatly before getting into more comfortable clothes, consisting of an old pair of mid-thigh denim shorts and a loose raglan sleeve tee. Sitting down on her bed, Mihoko rolled her socks off one by one before shuffling over to her desk in her slippers. She sat down at her desk and pulled up her draft for the report and began proofreading.

And began proofreading.

To her dismay, she found herself unable to read past the second line, much less proofread the whole eight pages. Her mind just would not cooperate; the characters barely registered in her mind. Mihoko paused and wavered, then pursed her lips and let the sheets fall haphazardly onto her desk. She closed her eyes and leaned back, resting her head on the back of the chair. She swivelled the chair languidly side to side and felt the tension in her body seeping away and being replaced by a sense of overwhelming tiredness that she didn't know she felt. She stopped moving the chair after a few more halfhearted swivels, and opened her eyes slowly to stare up at the ceiling for a long, long moment, feeling very alone all of a sudden.

Decision.

She'd have to make her decision soon, wouldn't she?


	2. Preparation

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

Just another reminder for all readers — you can check out various things related to the story at my homepage, including a post for those who have trouble remembering the names of various characters from _Saki_.

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Hisa twirled her pencil.

She resisted the urge to gaze out the window. What was the point of going to the trouble of getting a seat by the window if she couldn't do precisely that, though? But it was a bad idea in physics class; the teacher had a habit of calling on people who looked like they weren't paying attention, instead of calling in order down the rows. Fujisawa-sensei wasn't really a bad sort, Hisa thought idly, but that move did not exactly make him popular with the students. The fact that he always talked at length in monotone did not help things either; it usually took him fifteen minutes to say what a normal person could cover in two.

Hisa feigned concentration by gazing into her paperback textbook. Well, it was only their luck that their class had a double period of physics right after lunch on Mondays. It was easier to stomach his monotony in 50-minute increments than a double dose of what had been infamously dubbed as "Fujisawa Hell". Listening to him talk while on a full stomach was an especially deadly combination. She heard on TV that eating meals rich with peppers helped reduce drowsiness after eating, but the suggestion wasn't as well-received with her classmates as she'd expected. Hisa flipped another page absently as she heard the rustle of turning pages in the class. Maybe they could all eat their lunch early. Mako did it often enough, she grinned inwardly. Eating lunch between third and fourth period might be the best, she thought. But it was only a ten-minute break — maybe eating a bit between every period, then? Hisa frowned slightly at the thought. Too complicated, even if eating several small meals instead of a large one at once was highly touted.

Hisa paused briefly to listen before starting to doodle in the margin of her page. He was still talking about the same thing. It was unanimous amongst the science third-years that he was by far the most ineffective at teaching and thus, the most disliked. Everyone already had a lot on their plates and they didn't need another source of stress. The more disgruntled students only gave him perfunctory, sloppy bows before and after class. The ones who had to sit in the front had it worse, though, and were the most susceptible to being called on. It was hard to fake attentiveness from that distance.

She cracked a small grin. Thank goodness the class rep turned vice president, Morikawa-kun, was around — he was a complete pushover. When their class did the seating arrangement back in April, she had been unlucky enough to draw a front row seat. She perked right up, though, when she saw he drew a window seat. It was mildly amusing to see the expression on his face as soon as she made her way toward him. Morikawa-kun had recently developed the ability to sense whenever she had another 'favour' to ask of him, which was hardly surprising, as she'd been manipulating and convincing him into doing various things ever since first-year.

Also, it was a smart move on her part to have nominated him for vice-president on the student congress council this year; it made delegating various jobs to him just that much easier. Hisa congratulated herself on her foresight. Morikawa-kun was a dependable, reliable sort of guy who carried out his tasks well.

And perhaps she'd even done him a favour by trading seats with him, she thought cheekily. He was the studious and serious type, lapping up everything the teachers said and making detailed notes from lectures. That wasn't her style at all. She preferred to listen mostly and only jot notes down as needed instead of hanging onto every little word. Besides, they covered all the necessary material in cram school. There was hardly any need for her to stress over her regular physics class with a teacher like Fujisawa-sensei.

"— class will be your first term final exam. I don't want to dwell too much on this as we have limited class time, but let me emphasise that it will cover —"

He'd only been dwelling on it and emphasising what the test would cover for the last two classes. It wasn't that hard to remember. The test simply covered everything learnt so far in the term, excluding the chapter on electromagnetism that they were currently working on. Or, to be more precise, it was what they would be working on if he'd stop repeating something they'd all heard at least four times already.

"— up to, but not including, electromagnetism. You will be allowed to use a formulae sheet, but the values of fundamental constants and physical data such as the gravitational constant and the mass of —"

Hisa sighed inwardly and finally risked a glance out the window. Two P.E. classes were playing softball out on the field. She focussed on the girls' class. It looked like they were playing a game, but it was hard to make out who was winning. It was fairly easy to see a few were doing better than others though, she noted with amusement, as the current batter struck out swinging. She couldn't see the softball, of course, but judging from the others' reactions, that seemed to be the case.

Hisa followed the next girl walking up to bat with her eyes. The girl paused in front of the umpire for a moment, perhaps trading a few words. She faced the pitcher and swung her bat experimentally, settling into a comfortable stance. Hisa watched her swing and imagined the thwack when the girl made contact with the ball.

Hisa raised her elbow and propped it on her desk. Absently leaning into her hand, she watched the girl dash toward first base. She tried to imagine herself joining a sports club or voluntarily playing active, competitive sports outside of P.E. classes. While she wasn't exactly unathletic, somehow it just didn't appeal to her. It was just mahjong all the way for her and it had been the case for as long as she could remember.

But her love of mahjong wasn't something everyone could understand. Somehow it made more sense for Mako to like mahjong because she was raised by her grandfather and practically lived in the mahjong parlour ever since she was a kid. She herself did not have such a compelling, logical reason. Least of all, it wasn't something even her mother could understand. Though, certainly, her feelings toward mahjong weren't the only thing her mother had trouble with understanding. Rather than an inability to understand, Hisa mused, maybe it was a refusal to understand. Not that it mattered at the moment. The overall strained relationship with her mother aside, there were still plenty of people outside club members with whom she could share the happiness of qualifying for the nationals. Of those people, one was going to stay over tomorrow night, and the other would be visiting after the joint training camp she was hosting.

"Takei."

Ah, crap.

"Come up here and do a review question on the board."

Hisa mussed her hair and walked up sheepishly. There were a few good-natured sniggers around, which she took all in stride. Let's see, let's see... Hisa thought for a moment. It was obviously a kinematics question, but she hedged for a moment as she integrated the explicit and implicit known values before deciding on which equations to use. Her ahoge sprung up when she determined the best way of solving all the sub-questions. She wrote down the various calculations swiftly but carefully — lest she make a mistake that would set him off on another lecture about carelessness — and made her way back after the teacher thanked her for the answer. Hisa sat down in her seat and smoothed her hair. And made sure she looked like she was concentrating for the rest of the class.

Hisa tucked her brown schoolbag under her arm. She'd gone to the first-year classrooms after clean-up duties to let Nodoka and the others know she wouldn't be around for the day. Although the first-years' exams were all over, she still had the physics one to worry about, in addition to some unfinished homework for cram school. She ended up bumping into Yuuki first, who had somehow already managed to get her hands on tacos that soon after school. Hisa left after relaying the information to Yuuki.

She made her way down the stairs from the school courtyard. Mako mentioned earlier that she'd be leaving early to help out at the cafe, which meant the four first-years would be the only ones around for the day. Suga-kun was quite useful as a stand-in fourth player at such times, Hisa thought pleasantly. She turned the corner and started walking back home. It would be a good opportunity for them to relax and unwind from the qualifiers by playing one another informally. Yuuki would probably end up abusing Suga-kun even more without her or Mako around.

That reminded her. Hisa wondered when she should break it to Suga-kun that he was the only one who wasn't going to the training camp. There was the issue of him being the only guy, of course, but she had trouble reserving four rooms at the school temp boarding house as it were. Five would've been out of the question. If they hadn't secured a spot at the nationals, reserving even four would have been near impossible even with her skills. Understandably, all the clubs at Kiyosumi wanted to reserve a room or two for their members at the resort-like getaway for summer vacation.

So far, Tsuruga and Ryuumonbuchi already accepted — with a butler personally delivering the letter, in Ryuumonbuchi's case — but Kazekoshi had yet to reply. If Kazekoshi didn't accept, they would have an extra room and Suga-kun would technically be able to participate, but she did not welcome that prospect for a variety of reasons. Suga-kun was an amateur compared to the rest and would benefit little from the experience, Yuuki was always more excitable with him around, and she genuinely looked forward to meeting Kazekoshi's Captain again. From her kindness toward Yuuki in the first round of the team tournament to her level-headedness mixed with an odd moment of fluster at times, Hisa found her rather intriguing.

Hisa tucked her hair behind her ear and took another left. It would definitely be nice to interact with her again. Hisa hoped for Kazekoshi's reply soon, whether acceptance or rejection of the invitation. There were still many things to plan for, and she had yet to write the list of things for Suga-kun to buy. What's more, she had to come up with a way of keeping a constant supply of tacos and pork cutlet bowls for several days. Hisa chuckled a little. It was very kind of Fujita to have accepted the invitation, but it was quite easy to win her over after mentioning 'hot springs' and 'free pork cutlet bowls'. They could afford to splurge a little on food now that she could slot the mahjong club for a spot on the list when the issue of school club budgets came up.

Hisa opened the fence gate to her home and walked in. Closing the gate behind her, she strolled up to the front door, unlocking it and tugging her school tie loose as she went in the house. She glanced down and saw her aunt's shoes were missing. Hisa paused, trying to remember. Her aunt mentioned something about attending a PTA meeting at Acchan's nursery, but she couldn't remember the date. She would ask later, she thought, as she did a one-arm stretch.

Kicking off her shoes, she went up the stairs, taking care not to slip. Hisa stifled a yawn and rolled her shoulders stiffly. Maybe she ought to take a nap or watch some TV before studying. No point in trying when she wasn't going to be into it, even if she was unlikely to get anything done the next night until after Acchan's bedtime.

That evening, after a brief nap, some more procrastination, a bit of studying, and a simple dinner with her aunt, Hisa found herself confronting the homework from cram school. It was hard to dredge up the motivation for it when the work wasn't due until the day after tomorrow. But Acchan was quite a little bundle of energy when need be; on second thought, Hisa doubted she'd have the energy to do much even after the little tyke went to sleep. Hisa grinned at the thought. She'd taken the old set of mahjong tiles from the club and brought them home with her to play with Acchan. They had immense fun shouting out 'pon', 'kan', and 'chii', albeit largely at random. Acchan couldn't recognise sequences yet, but they would 'pon' triplets of honour tiles or mix the tiles noisily on the dining table, much to the girl's delight.

Hisa's cousin was rather sceptical at first when she found out about it, questioning the merits of exposing her young daughter to a gambler's or salaryman's pursuit. Hisa had then logically pointed out the fact she herself was neither gambler nor salaryman despite playing, and that gambling with mahjong was illegal anyway. She finished it off by mentioning the educational values of learning mahjong — which was something she came up with on the spot, even though it was true. With the trouble averted, she was free to show Acchan how to reveal a row of thirteen tiles all at once, despite the increased difficulty without a convenient ledge to line the tiles up with. It was extremely enjoyable watching Acchan attempt the same with a row of five, where the row would crumple up in her hands or where the middle one would refuse to fall over with the rest.

With those thoughts in mind, Hisa completed a large fraction of her homework in record time, even after factoring in two 'five-minute' breaks that extended a good deal longer than what they would suggest. She stood up with another yawning stretch and grabbed a change of clothes and headed for a relaxing bath.

Hisa was soaking in the tub when she heard her cell phone go off. It would be impossible to get to her cell in time, but nevertheless, it spurred her to get out of the tub. Although it was unlikely to be an urgent call, it was hard to relax with her cell ringing. She patted herself dry and squeezed the water from her hair before putting her pyjamas on. Hisa bent forward, flipping her hair over her head, and wrapped it up with a hair towel. Tucking in the ends of the towel, she wiped the nape of her neck one more time before walking out of the bathroom, buttoning the last two buttons on her top.

She flipped her cell open. It was a missed call from Mako. She closed the message, and noticed the time — it was already past midnight. She turned on her TV and flipped to the right channel, glad it hadn't started yet. _Radiant! School Club Girls!_ wasn't exactly the most exciting or interesting programme this side of Japan, but Nodoka was being interviewed and featured this time around. She speed dialled Mako's cell phone number and Mako picked up within the second ring.

"Oh, buchou!"

"Hey, what's up?"

"You remember Nodoka's on TV?"

"Mm hm."

"I was gonna remind you. Are you watching it now?"

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for anything," she grinned. Hisa sat down on her bed unceremoniously.

"I'm still cleaning up so I can't watch yet," Mako lamented. "I asked gramps to record it."

"That's good. Nodoka looks great on camera; you wouldn't want to miss it," Hisa said cheerfully.

Mako chuckled for a moment. "Oi, did you hear Yuuki's got make-ups on Friday?"

"Eh? She does?" Yuuki hadn't mentioned anything when she saw the girl after school.

"If she doesn't pass, she'll have to take extra classes and she won't be able to go to the training camp..."

"Well, I don't think we have to worry too much. Nodoka and Saki will probably do something about it." She toyed with a loose end from her hair towel, and faintly heard Mako's grandfather call for her. "Well, catch you later then."

"Yeah. Night."

Hisa flipped her phone shut and flopped onto her bed. She turned on her side and watched the remainder of the TV segment. The programme was unlikely to continue with Nodoka's interview after the commercial break, but she left the TV on just in case. Hisa lifted her phone up and stared at her mahjong tile strap for a moment. She fingered the surface of the tile a bit. It was probably too late to call, she decided. Flipping her phone open, she settled on sending a short text message before closing her phone again and sitting up.

"Guess I'll have to do something about Yuuki, too," she murmured.

Hisa crawled to the other side of her bed and reached for her schoolbag. Turning her cell phone off, she slipped the phone into a compartment and stood up, letting her hair down in the process. Time to dry her hair then hit the sack.


	3. Headway

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Go to arwynl. deviantart. com (without spaces) for Hisa/Mihoko fanart. Fanart has spoilers for current chapter, so I suggest you look at it after finishing reading this.

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Mihoko wrote down the date in the visitor log book.

By all reason, she should've come to Kiyosumi High School much earlier to let Ueno-san know Kazekoshi was going to accept the invitation. It was already Friday, several days since Kana and the others expressed their desire to participate, but she kept putting it off for reasons unknown even to herself. She'd been in a much better mood the last few days though, to the point where a first-year ended up shyly asking if something good happened. Mihoko dodged the question hesitantly with a smile, unsure how to answer even if she wanted to be honest, and distracted the girl with other, safer questions.

She wrote her name.

It was much easier to convince herself that they were walking down different paths when she thought Ueno-san did not remember her; much easier to walk away from her ambivalence; and much easier to deny herself the hope that comes with 'what ifs'. Although their paths may have diverged three years ago, opportunity was presenting itself again and again. First was Ueno-san deciding to participate in the interhigh team tournament in their final year, then it was the individuals, and now, a training camp invitation that she could accept without the burden of guilt.

She closed the log book and smiled at the Kiyosumi student standing by her side.

"This way, please. Follow me."

Mihoko trailed her hand along the cover of the log book as she turned and followed the girl.

After all her personal rumination on the issue, she now felt strangely excited as she was led to the student council room. Maybe, just maybe, they could get to know each other more at the training camp and move past simply being the president of their respective mahjong clubs.

"Are you from Kazekoshi All-Girls?"

"Ah, yes," Mihoko answered, startled from her thoughts.

"I thought so! I've seen the uniform before, but I wasn't sure."

"Are you perhaps interested in mahjong too?" she inquired politely.

"Oh, that's right, your school has a really large mahjong club. I don't know how to play, but my family mentions Kazekoshi sometimes, so that's why it seemed familiar." The girl looked at her curiously, as though she wanted to ask something else.

"It's very kind of you to show me the way to your president."

"Think nothing of it. I was planning on coming upstairs anyway." They walked in silence for the remainder of the duration. "Here we are."

"Thank you, again."

The girl smiled and rapped the door twice.

"Come in," came a muffled reply.

That voice — it was Ueno-san.

"Excuse me," the girl said as she slid the door open, "there's a guest for you, kaichou."

Mihoko took that as her cue. She stepped forward and inclined her head. "Pardon me."

"Welcome, come on in."

Ueno-san had an absolutely infectious smile. Mihoko walked into the room and was lost in Ueno-san's eyes, until she heard someone beside her — had he been there the whole time? — speak up uncertainly.

"Kaichou..."

Mihoko brought her hand to her mouth, flustered. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting a meeting?"

"No no, not at all." Ueno-san glanced at the young man. "Right, Morikawa-kun?"

"Kaichou, we were —"

"We were just about done," she finished for him.

"The summer club activities —"

"Oh, yes, the summer club activities. Thanks for reminding me." Ueno-san took the papers from her desk and stood. She walked past her desk and up to the young man. "I'll leave this in your hands," she said solemnly.

"Don't tell me you're going to —"

"Can I leave this to you, vice president? Every school club that scheduled club activities this summer vacation is depending on you. Can you imagine what would happen if you didn't do a final check through?"

Mihoko watched the exchange with great interest.

"But you —"

"Can you even imagine the havoc that would be wreaked if various clubs' use of rooms and equipment clashed?"

"But you were supposed to —"

"Sure, you could probably change a room or two for cultural clubs, but what about sports clubs? Can you imagine the impact it would have on their training? What would happen to their morale? Their team spirit?"

"That has nothing to do with how —"

"As the vice president, you're supposed to support me, right? You're supposed to support me in times of need."

"Yeah, but —"

"Then it's set! Thanks, Morikawa-kun," she finished blithely.

"... O-Okay."

"I knew I could count on you."

A brief silence followed.

"You can go now, Morikawa-kun, thanks."

He looked like he was about to argue, then clicked his jaw shut, muttering an 'excuse me' and left. He slid the door shut quietly after him.

They were alone in the room.

"Sorry about that," Hisa grinned.

"It's okay," Mihoko murmured. "But... what about Morikawa-san...?"

"Don't worry about him; he's used to it."

Ueno-san walked back toward the end of the room, and slid onto the edge of the table. She tucked her skirt and turned back to look at Mihoko.

"I — Will he be okay?"

"Sure. I double-checked everything already, but he was being a worrywart and insisted I look over it again." Hisa shifted and leaned back slightly. "I was staying late today, so I thought I'd humour him since he helps out a lot. Guess he's out of luck now," she grinned again.

"Ah, I see." Mihoko didn't know whether she should apologise again or not.

Hisa tilted her head a bit. "So..."

"Ah, as you probably guessed, I came to talk about the training camp."

Hisa nodded.

Mihoko smiled slightly. "The Kazekoshi mahjong club would be more than happy to accept the invitation."

"You'll accept? Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"I'm sorry it took so long for me to reply." Mihoko cringed inwardly. It took her nearly two weeks to reply, and she didn't even really have an excuse for it.

"It's no problem at all. But you didn't have to go out of your way to come here. A phone call would've been fine too."

"No, that would've been..." Mihoko wondered how well 'But I wanted to see you' would go over, and looked away. "You're the student council president, right? It's amazing you manage both the student council and the mahjong club."

Ueno-san turned away, with a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Not at all. Our club only has six members. I have nothing on the Captain of the famous Kazekoshi mahjong club."

Mihoko couldn't tell whether Ueno-san was teasing, or if she really felt that she, as the Captain of Kazekoshi's mahjong club, was somehow larger than life. She steadied herself, and made to move closer. "No... I'm not really anything like that — I fail as the Captain. To be honest, I couldn't decide on the training camp myself." Mihoko traced her hand along the edge of the table. Her palms were damp.

"Really?"

"Yes, and so some of the members actually came up to me and asked me to accept the invitation on behalf of the club." She was now an arm's reach from Ueno-san. "I wanted to participate, of course, but I was worried about them, since they can't participate in the nationals. Conversely, they were worried about me, and they wanted to train for next year, too."

"You're always thinking about others, aren't you? It's no wonder your club members are so devoted to you."

Mihoko leaned back into the edge of the table. "I don't, really..." But she smiled and said, "We are kind of close though."

"You've got good members, don't you?"

"Yes," Mihoko said with a nod.

"As are the ones in our club here. That's great, isn't it? We've both got good kids in our clubs."

"Yes, that's right." Mihoko turned her head slightly, and closed her eyes. She was feeling calmer, and being friends with Ueno-san seemed much more possible now.

"Say," Hisa began.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any plans later today?"

"Pardon?"

Hisa smiled lightly. "Do you have any plans later today?" she asked again.

"A-ah, no, I don't."

"Do you want to watch fireworks with me? Kiyosumi's hosting its 38th summer festival tonight."

"I — yes. I would love to." Ueno-san was probably going to meet up with friends or club members for the festival, and she would only be tagging along. But the idea of spending more time with Ueno-san was too hard to resist.

"I've still got one or two things to go over quickly before I can leave though. Do you think you could...?"

"Yes, of course. Please take your time. I've already intruded upon and taken so much of your time already."

"Thanks, I'll just grab a few things and see the vice president." Hisa stood and walked over to her desk and pulled out several sheets of paper from the drawer. "I'll be right back."

Mihoko watched Ueno-san leave, and let out her breath. Things were going better than she ever imagined. She glanced at the door again, anticipating Ueno-san's return any minute, even though she just left the room. Looking at the door reminded her — she didn't even notice when the girl who brought her here had left.

Mihoko ran a hand through her hair and sighed. It certainly wasn't the first time that happened. The worst was when she stared dumbly after Ueno-san when Bundou-san was crying and wracking with sobs over the lost match. No one in the club noticed her slip, or if they had, they never called her out on it. But her motives and thoughts were generally very transparent; otherwise how did everyone figure out her hesitation in participating in the training camp?

At least she still managed to hide the fact she liked girls. Or maybe not. In the last two, three years at Kazekoshi, she had found no less than three love letters in her shoe cubby. Two asked to meet her while one remained anonymous. She had gone as requested, and politely rejected them both. She felt awful either way, but they deserved an honest reply at the very least.

Mihoko realised with a start that 'politely rejecting people' was the extent of her experience and interaction with girls romantically. She was not interested in those who confessed to her, nice girls though they were, since they seemed more enamoured of the reputation that preceded her than wanting to know her. And she had always been too hesitant to do anything about any of her unrequited feelings. In many ways, it seemed sadly pathetic to her.

She shook her head ruefully, and took out her phone and looked at it for a moment. If she called home, her mother would pick up and ask why she wasn't coming home in time for dinner. She didn't want to mention Ueno-san just yet. If she called her brother, he wouldn't ask too much, but it might seem like she was hiding something by getting him to relay the message.

Home it was, then.

Mihoko dialled. She waited as the phone rang while various excuses flitted through her mind. 'Club-related activities'? 'Bumped into a middle school friend'? 'Going to watch fireworks'?

"Hello?"

"Nii-san," Mihoko said reflexively as she breathed an internal sigh of relief.

"Hey, you still at school? Isn't today the last day of classes?"

"About that... I was doing some last minute things for the club and a friend asked me if I wanted to watch fireworks. Could you tell mom I won't be home in time for dinner?"

"Sure. You want mom to save some for you?"

Ueno-san only mentioned fireworks. And she only brought her Suica with her. "Yes please."

"Right then. Have fun, Miho."

"Thanks. Bye."

Mihoko pressed 'end call' and sighed. Her cell phone chirped suddenly, and she fumbled with it for a moment. It was an unsolicited text message. Her brother showed her how to delete them awhile ago, but...

Mihoko pressed the 'cancel' and 'back' buttons experimentally. Then 'end call' again. Her cell phone only beeped uncooperatively. She pressed a few more buttons randomly, and somehow ended up locking the text message from accidental deletion. Technology.

"You doing okay?"

"U-Ueno-san!" Mihoko half jumped up.

Ueno-san was leaning against the door frame, with arms crossed, and amusement written all over her face.

Mihoko felt her face flush. "How long...?"

"Long enough to see you poke your phone," Hisa noted lightly.

"Ah... um..."

"Can I help? I can't fix electronics or anything, but if you want, I could take a look."

Somehow, admitting she was a technological idiot seemed ten times as embarrassing as usual. "I... I'm not good with... technology," she said lamely. Mihoko offered her phone wordlessly.

"Let's see..."

Ueno-san looked adorable when she was thinking. Maybe being completely useless with technology wasn't so bad.

"So what seems to be the problem?"

"I got an unsolicited message on my cell phone..."

"Yeah?"

"And... I don't know how to delete it. It said I 'locked' it, but..."

"Oh, is that it? Here, I'll show you."

Ueno-san sidled over, leaning her weight on the table, and began explaining.

"If you lock a message, it won't get deleted even if you decide to delete everything at once on your cell. The first thing you have to do now is to unlock it. You can do that by pressing 'options' right here. You can access most functions this way. Here, you try it."

Mihoko reached for the phone, taking it into her hands, and pressed it.

"Right, now go down to 'unlock'."

Mihoko pressed the down arrow until she selected 'unlock'. "I... I think I get it. Can I try deleting it by myself?"

"Of course."

Mihoko had seen 'delete message' on the list when she selected 'unlock'. Surely, if she did the same thing again...

"Um..."

Hisa peered at the cell phone. "Do you want to delete all the messages?"

"It doesn't really matter. All of them are unsolicited anyway," Mihoko admitted. What would Ueno-san think of her pitiful social life now?

"Okay, then press 'yes' here. If you wanted to delete just one message, you have to select the message first. But you basically did it right."

Mihoko flipped her phone shut with her hands. "Thank you."

"No problem." Hisa stood up. "Say, do you know how to text?"

"Oh, yes, I do, but I'm very slow," Mihoko answered self-consciously with a small smile. "Why?"

"I think it would help if you try pressing the buttons with your thumbs instead. It might be a bit easier."

"Thank you. I'll try that."

"Well then. It's pretty dark already, huh?" Hisa walked over to the desk and picked up her schoolbag. "Let's go, shall we?"

"Let's."

Mihoko followed Ueno-san out of the room and closed the door behind her. She walked side by side with Ueno-san down the now empty hallway.

"I'm pretty sure the fireworks start at seven, so we still have a bit of time."

"Are we meeting up with the others now?"

"Actually, I didn't have any plans for staying for the festival because of the student congress council work... I just invited you impulsively back then. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all! I just thought you would've met with your club members, or..."

Hisa gave a small laugh. "I didn't want to hold everyone up. They were pretty excited about wearing their yukata, and it would've been really late if they waited for me to get into mine."

"So that's why."

"We're just going to go to the mahjong clubroom now," Hisa explained as they went down the stairs. "It's probably really crowded at the festival by now, and I'm sure we'll get a good view from the clubroom."

"Is the clubroom downstairs?" Mihoko wondered how they would see the fireworks from the ground floor. And how did the Kiyosumi clubroom look like? Ueno-san's club only had six people, but the room would have to be big enough to fit a mahjong table, amongst other things.

"It's in another building entirely. It's a bit run down, but quite comfortable. It's like our own little kingdom."

"That's really nice to hear. Our school board is very invested in the mahjong club, as you can probably imagine. It's harder to remain autonomous."

"There is that too. Small clubs aren't half bad in that regard."

"Small clubs are fun in their own way," Mihoko agreed. "I try to organise events with the club's coach where members can all participate, but it's rather hard to come up with anything other than intramural tournaments."

"Kazekoshi has over eighty members this year, right? I really wanted to get into Kazekoshi for its mahjong club back in middle school." Hisa gave a wan smile and added, "But I guess it wasn't meant to be."

Mihoko's heart thudded. Ueno-san wanted to attend Kazekoshi as she had hoped three years ago. But what had gone wrong and why did she change her name? Why did she disappear in the middle of the nationals? Mihoko couldn't bring herself to ask.

Instead, she answered softly, "No, I guess it wasn't."


	4. Interact

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

Greetings. A few words before we begin — thank you for the reviews, comments, and feedback so far.

The set-up for reviews isn't the easiest to work with or to reply with, but I read 'em all.

* * *

Hisa smiled somewhat wistfully. If she'd gone on, she might have become the middle school national champion that year, and then perhaps gotten into Kazekoshi on a scholarship. But there was no use speculating now, nor did she regret the decisions that she made at the time. The rest had been beyond her control.

They walked in silence for some while. Fukuji-san seemed much more reserved all of a sudden; perhaps she was thinking about how the qualifiers would have turned out, had she indeed entered Kazekoshi — or even any other school, for that matter. Would Mako start the mahjong club on her own? Would Yuuki and Nodoka have entered the club? Would Suga-kun bother if Nodoka weren't around? Would any of them have realised Saki was playing plus/minus zero on purpose, and would a fifth girl have joined the club? They were questions that she did not have answers to.

She held the door open for Fukuji-san as they left the school building. Letting go of the door, Hisa followed, walking at her side. It was a good thing the weather held out in the end; the evening was pleasantly warm and the setting sun cast a warm, reddish orange hue on everything it touched. The dying sunset dipped low beyond the horizon and Hisa enjoyed the picturesque beauty in a peaceful moment.

She exhaled. It was the perfect night for a summer festival.

Her idle thoughts returned to Fukuji-san. As the captain of the club, it couldn't have been easy to fend off the media or the school's criticism, or to feel the pressure for their club to win. Kazekoshi's six-year streak ended with Ryuumonbuchi's upset win the year before, and now Kiyosumi was going to the nationals in their stead. Perhaps Fukuji-san did not have to bear the brunt of it with her win in the individuals, but it seemed unlikely that someone like her would leave club members to fend for themselves.

There was little Fukuji-san could actually do, though. They were both third-years, so this year was her last too. She wouldn't be able to help Kazekoshi reach the nationals again. Had she been to the high school nationals in the team tournament before? Hisa assumed she had, at first. But Hisa realised that if Fukuji-san did go, she could only have gone in her first year.

Hisa glanced sideways at the girl in question then. The soft, violet-orange sunlight shone on her, and Hisa was momentarily captivated by the play of light in Fukuji-san's left eye. Why did she keep her other eye closed? It really was a pity. Maybe she'd open it when they played mahjong again at the training camp next week.

Mihoko turned to Hisa's direction as she caught her gaze.

"Ueno-san?"

Hisa looked off to the side slightly. "Um... it's nothing." She backtracked on her thoughts. "I was wondering whether you were a regular in your first year."

"Oh, yes," Mihoko answered demurely, "I was one by the end of the school year."

"The qualifiers are pretty early in the year though, aren't they? Did you get to play then?"

"I barely made it onto the team in time, but I did get to go. My senpai were very kind and helpful."

Well, at least that was one question answered. She was exceptional at mahjong, after all, and deserved her title as Kazekoshi's ace.

"That's good," Hisa answered absently.

Mihoko murmured her agreement while they started down the stairs. A slight pause. "And how was it for you? Your first year, I mean."

"I got by." She laughed, "I was the only one in the mahjong club that year though."

"Then you didn't play?"

"Not as much as usual, no. But I played some at my part-time." Hisa rolled her shoulders, stiff from the congress council work. "Speaking of which, how come you got to play in your first year? I thought Kazekoshi only has their second- and third-years play."

"That's not the case at all. The regulars are determined by rank, so first-years can participate in tournaments if their ranking is high enough. Bundou-san is one of those first-years."

"Bundou...?"

The name sounded a bit familiar, but...

"The girl you played."

"You mean that really tall one?" The girl looked like she was even 172 or 175 cm tall.

Mihoko nodded. "You were watching the matches on TV in the room for your team, right? Then she would've been the only Kazekoshi member whose grade year you didn't know."

"That's right," Hisa murmured thoughtfully. "I thought she was older than that because of her height. But I remember thinking she was rather nervous."

"It was her first time playing at a large event like that."

"No wonder. And the games are broadcast on TV too." Add that to how she kept winning big hands on the first-year's discards... "Anyone would get nervous."

"Even you?" Mihoko asked with a smile.

"Haha, of course."

"You're right that anyone would be nervous, but you still come across as very confident."

"Ah... not at all."

"You should've seen yourself during the centrefield match."

Well, she did slam her winning tiles onto the mahjong table, but that seemed more indicative of her manners rather than confidence. And it didn't seem like that was what Fukuji-san referred to.

"I think you're much more calm and collected, if anything."

"I'm hardly like that."

"For one, you didn't play into my hand even once," Hisa pointed out. A small spark of competitiveness flared in her briefly before it died down. It would be a nice challenge to see if she could trick Fukuji-san with her tactics in mahjong.

"Middle school nationals," Mihoko reminded her.

"Right... but that doesn't count."

"It doesn't?" she asked curiously.

"Nope."

"Why?"

Hisa waved it off with a grin. "It just doesn't. Don't sweat the little details."

"All right, if you insist."

Hisa playfully offered, "And I do."

The cicadas chirped loudly, filling the warm silence that lay between them as they continued down the road. Fukuji-san was someone easy to be around and to talk with; maybe it was due to their shared passion for mahjong. The fact they both headed and remained so involved in their respective mahjong clubs in their third-year seemed to speak volumes, at least.

They were about halfway from the clubroom now.

"Have you always played the way you do?" Mihoko inquired.

"Not at all. Actually, I used to lose a lot until I started playing this way." It seemed so long ago since she first started.

"Well... I have trouble imagine you losing."

"Hey hey, all of us have to start somewhere."

Fukuji-san gave a subdued smile.

"How old were you? Maybe your opponents were too strong for you."

"Oh, no doubt," Hisa remarked wryly. "I was pulverised by my kid sister."

"That really puts a dent into my age theory."

"I guess it does, huh? But," Hisa continued thoughtfully, "you could say I play the way I do because of her, so I'm not sure whether I should be thankful or not."

"Your sister sounds very intriguing."

"I assure you I'm infinitely more interesting than her."

"Oh, I wonder about that."

"Aha. So you know how to joke too. You're very serious, Fukuji-san."

"But who said I was joking?"

"Oh, that's mean. You'll shred what's left of the confidence you thought I had," Hisa grinned, enjoying the pleasant banter.

"Then I guess I should stop," Mihoko smiled.

"But you don't have to be serious all the time. We're the same age."

"You're right," Mihoko acceded. "I think I was just a bit too nervous before."

Hisa felt somewhat surprised by the comment. So even Fukuji-san was on the shy side when it came to interacting with people. Even when she seemed so at ease and was often at the centre of attention, being Kazekoshi's Captain.

They came up to the stairs leading up to the old school building, where a low iron bar blocked the way.

"We're almost there. We just have to go up the stairs and walk a bit further," Hisa said as held onto the bar and stepped over it.

"Is it really okay for me to come with you?"

Mihoko was referring to the 'Authorised Personnel Only Beyond This Point' sign that hung across the bar.

"Sure thing. We cross it all the time."

"Ah." Mihoko followed suit and stepped over the bar. She looked toward the building. "Is it still in use?"

"Outside of the mahjong club? Not really." Hisa started up the stairs. "I've heard the school ran into some trouble with negotiations and that it's come to a standstill. We've been using it as a clubroom for as long as I've been here."

"Then you were here all by yourself in this building?"

"Well, I managed to convince a couple of classmates to come by a few times back then, but no one stayed." Hisa looked onward. "We couldn't even really play with just two or three people."

Most people who liked mahjong enough to join a club for it would've gone to Kazekoshi, Hisa thought idly.

"Ah, I see. So that's why you played at your part-time."

"Yeah, I worked at a mahjong parlour and did odds and ends around the place. I filled in sometimes if they had a player short."

"It might be a bit late to ask this, but Kiyosumi allows its students to work part-time?"

"Not... exactly." Not having followed the school regulations wasn't really the issue; working in a smoky mahjong parlour when she was fifteen was the bigger problem. According to her mother, anyway. "In any case, as you can expect, most of the customers were older men. So I was a bit of a novelty for a while. They called me 'ojou-chan' and all that."

"And I'm sure they taught you to choose better waits when you won."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. And they did, until I kept winning. But it died down pretty quickly. A couple of strong female players go there often, so it was mostly just due to my age. One of the regulars at the parlour is even a pro. You know her too — Fujita-pro."

"You mean Fujita Yasuko?"

"Yup. The one and only. Small world, isn't it?"

"Yes... it's a small world."

"Fujita probably just goes there because of the food though," Hisa muttered. "Their pork cutlet bowls are cheap and quite decent."

Mihoko laughed. "Ueno-san, you're making Fujita-pro sound like a glutton."

"But she is!" Hisa protested. "I made the mistake of treating her to a snack once. Three bowls. She called three huge bowls a snack."

Mihoko looked at Hisa mirthfully.

"And she knew I was saving up for a mahjong table too," Hisa grumped.

"You seem to get along with her well," Mihoko observed.

"Yeah. Even though she's a few years older, we were the closest in age there, and she found me interesting. Apparently she liked the fact I had an attitude." Hisa wrinkled her nose.

"I can sort of imagine Ueno-san like that."

"Whose side are you on anyway?"

"Would you believe me if I said yours?"

"That's a good question." Hisa paused mock thoughtfully as she considered it. "I'll believe you if you transfer to Kiyosumi and enter our club."

"No sooner said than done, buchou."

Hisa laughed. "If you did that, it would mean Kiyosumi students dominated the Kanagawa prefectural qualifiers."

"And it's all due to the club president, brilliant strategist of Kiyosumi High."

"Oh, I like the sound of that." Hisa pushed the door to the clubroom open and flipped on the lights. "And here we are."

Hisa watched Mihoko's reaction. It seemed like she wasn't expecting a Western-styled clubroom.

"That was my first reaction too. Come in. Feel free to sit anywhere."

Mihoko approached the mahjong table and touched its side.

"Is this the one you saved up for?"

"Yup. My boss was offering me a used one for cheaper, but I wanted to get a new one no matter what."

"Do you still work there?"

"No, I quit after I saved up enough for the table. I have exams and everything to worry about too." Hisa looked over to the side of the clubroom. "It probably isn't too hot for tea... Do you drink English tea, Fukuji-san?"

"That won't be necessary, you don't have to go to the trouble..."

"It's no problem. I'm a bit thirsty anyway. Is Earl Grey okay?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

Hisa plugged in the kettle and took out two cups and saucers.

"Do you want something to eat? I got Suga-kun to buy some snacks for the clubroom when he ran some errands for me."

"Oh, no, I'm fine."

"You sure? I've got a little bit of everything right now. Some of the snacks are for the training camp, but we're keeping them here for the moment."

Mihoko sat down at the mahjong table. "Then maybe some strawberry Pocky please, if you have it."

"I like your choice. You have good taste." Hisa rummaged through the bags of snacks. "I like strawberry Pocky too. Though it's a toss-up between that and vanilla ice Tohato Caramel Corn for me."

Mihoko watched Hisa. "Do you eat Pocky any particular way? I like to eat the coating first."

"I either eat it normally or the way they do it in the commercials." Hisa pulled out a box of Pocky from the bag.

"Really?"

"Yeah. They edit the commercials to get the movements right, so it's hard to master. I haven't done it in a while, but I perfected it with my sister." Hisa tugged the cardboard tab open as she walked over to the mahjong table. "Later we managed to do the little dance from one of the commercials too. We liked to do it after melodramatically singing the jingle," she reminisced.

"You synchronised the dancing?"

"Yup. We practised in front of a mirror." Hisa sat down and ripped the plastic open. She held out the Pocky. "Here."

"Thank you." Mihoko took one.

"If you want to try eating it the way they do in ads, all you have to do is bite and snap it off. But making it look smooth is the hard part." Hisa took a Pocky out. She popped it into her mouth and snapped the rest off with a flourish.

Mihoko tried to do the same, but her movements weren't very smooth. "I don't think I can do it."

"Nonsense," Hisa said as she wagged the remaining bit of Pocky at Mihoko. "You just need to practise. And it's a great excuse to eat more Pocky. The trick is to focus on the flourish. The Pocky will break off itself if you do that."

"Ah, okay." Mihoko reached for another one and tried again.

"That was much better," Hisa praised. She popped the rest of the stick in her mouth. "Your homework is to perfect this by next weekend."

"Next weekend?"

"We'll see each other then. So you can show me." Hisa turned and saw the kettle steaming. She placed the Pocky down and stood. "Be right back."

Hisa unplugged the kettle and reached for the box of Earl Grey. She took out a packet and ripped it open.

"Isn't it a bit embarrassing...?"

"But you just did it," Hisa laughed. She dangled the tea bag in the teapot and poured in the boiling water.

"That was different though."

"Are you worried others will see? I won't make you do it in front of all four school teams, if that's what you were thinking." Hisa put the lid on to let the tea steep for a few minutes. "And we'll be providing the snacks, so you don't have to worry about bringing it." Hisa turned to face Mihoko, and leaned back on her elbows against the counter.

"... I'll think about it."

"Sure." Hisa absently toyed with the ripped tea packet between her fingers. "By the way, do you think it's possible you could bring a mahjong table to the training camp? As you can see, we only have one here."

"And we'll be needing five in total."

"Yup. That's how it is."

"Would you like us to bring four? I think we could manage that."

"No, it's okay. I asked Tsuruga and Ryuumonbuchi to bring theirs, and they agreed already. Ryuumonbuchi-san volunteered to bring two."

"Oh, I see."

"But thanks for the offer. It would be disastrous if over twenty people had to wait their turn at one mahjong table."

Mihoko looked at Hisa curiously. "How many people are participating?"

"Twenty-one."

"Would the twenty-first person be the Suga-san you mentioned just now?"

"No, not him. He doesn't get to go. I've prepared a special guest, but if you want to know who it is you'll have to wait and see." Hisa turned back to the tea and started pouring two cups out. "I think it would be best to leave it as a surprise."

"But I think I can guess who it is."

"Oh?" Hisa took the tea bag and placed it on a separate saucer for reuse later.

"Since it's a training camp, the special guest has to have something to do with mahjong, of course."

"Go on." Hisa held onto the two saucers, balancing the two cups of tea as she slowly walked back over to Mihoko.

"The schools you've invited are all national-level or nearly there, so the guest wouldn't be just anybody."

"Uh huh."

"Who better to invite than a pro?" Mihoko concluded.

Hisa held out one cup. "Here."

"Ah, thank you." Mihoko took the saucer and steadied the cup.

Hisa placed hers onto one of the stands by the mahjong table and sat down herself. "And what makes you so sure I only know one pro?"

Mihoko gingerly took a sip of the hot tea before setting it down. "You might know more than one pro, but surely you'd ask someone who you're on good terms with and who lives around here."

"Mm, a very good point." Hisa took the box of Pocky and pulled one out. She leaned closer and held it out. "Here's the prize for your superb deductions. Say 'ah'."

"Eh...?"

Hisa slid the Pocky into the surprised Mihoko's half-opened mouth.

Mihoko clicked her jaw shut and bit it. She held the rest of the biscuit stick in her hand. "Ah. Um, thanks. For the prize."

Hisa picked up her cup and took a sip.


	5. Fireworks

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

Aoishiro is the best and I love Hakkaya Hisa x Mihoko doujin.

That is all.

* * *

It had happened too quickly for her to process properly, and Ueno-san was sipping her tea as though nothing had happened. And perhaps nothing really had, but it made Mihoko feel a small, bright warmth well up in her chest. She nibbled on her prize in high spirits as she gathered her senses and brought their conversation back to the training camp.

"Is there anything else we can do to help?"

Although she was used to organising events with an even larger number of people, she had never co-ordinated or planned extramural activities from scratch, not even under the former Captain's guidance. Kazekoshi's mahjong club was large enough that the benefits of extramural activities barely outweighed the hassle and preparation required.

She disliked placing undue emphasis on rank order and instead liked to focus on letting everyone have fun. The constraints thereof, however, necessarily meant only the top ranking members would get to participate — much like the case with the upcoming training camp. It really was a pity that Yumino-san, currently ranked sixth, couldn't participate in either the team tournament or the training camp.

She knew the limitations of a large club, but that didn't mean it was any easier for Ueno-san in this situation. Accommodating so many different people's needs — most of whom she probably had little contact with — seemed like an arduous task.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think we've got it under control. The school's sponsoring a lot of it, and Suga-kun's extremely helpful."

"Ah, I see," Mihoko replied graciously.

She couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed but didn't let it show on her face. She wanted to be of more help and selfishly wanted to lessen Ueno-san's burden, but there was nothing she could do.

"Well," Hisa began after a moment, "you can bring some snacks if you want. It's probably impossible for me to cover all the bases and buy something that everyone likes. And you'd know if any of your club members have allergies or things like that." After some deliberation, Hisa added, "You seem like you won't be happy unless you do something to help."

"Ah... that's not..." Mihoko broke eye contact and averted her gaze.

Hisa slid the side of her shoe along one of the chair's caster wheels absently. "You really go out of your way to help people sometimes, you know?"

Then Ueno-san shifted and crossed her legs. The fabric of her pantyhose stretched, sheer at the knees. The hem of her knee-length skirt rode up slightly.

"— conversely, you could say that's one of your charm points. Nothing to feel ashamed about," Hisa finished.

Why was Ueno-san saying something like that, praising her when she only had her own reasons and motivations in mind? Her offer to help was driven by self-serving interests.

Hisa noticed Mihoko's silence and smiled kindly after a moment. "Sorry, I may have said too much just now. Forget I mentioned it. Why don't you try the tea again? It should be about the right temperature."

"... ah, yes." Mihoko reached for her cup, glad for the temporary respite. She held the cup close with two hands and paused to smell its unfamiliar fragrance. She took a sip and swallowed. The hot tea slid down her throat comfortably, pleasantly warming her whole body despite the summer heat. She spoke with some reserve and murmured, "It's very aromatic... do you usually drink English tea?"

"A bit. I usually just drink it at the club; my family has a more sensitive palate, it seems."

"Yes, it's rather strong," Mihoko agreed.

"Are you okay with the taste? I don't have any milk here, but I could dilute it with some water if it's too much."

"Oh, no, it's fine, thank you. I'm not used to the taste, but it's very pleasant." Mihoko looked down at her cup for a moment, thinking. "It smells like tea and warmth."

Hisa's mouth quirked into a small grin. "You're more poetic than me. I just like the Bergamot flavouring."

"Is that what it's called?"

"Yeah, I guess. I just read it off the box — the ingredients listed are tea and Bergamot flavouring, so..." Hisa closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to remember. "If I remember correctly, it's derived from Bergamot orange peels."

"You're very knowledgeable," Mihoko said softly.

"Not at all, not at all. I just like remembering interesting facts and watching daytime TV programmes when I have the time. I just wish I had the capacity for remember school materials instead."

"Time really passes by, doesn't it? It's already our last year in high school."

"Mm, yeah. I don't have as much time as before for other things. Have to look after the first-years in the club too."

"I'm sure they're doing well under your guidance."

How could they not, after all?

"I'm not sure I can give them anything like that," Hisa said with a small laugh. "But I'm glad they're experiencing different things. Sometimes I feel like they're like kids who've all grown up. They're heading to the nationals and aiming for bigger things."

"I know the feeling," Mihoko offered. "Sometimes you feel like there's nothing else you can show them, but they still look up to you as their senpai."

"Your kids sound like they're a lot more well-behaved," Hisa grinned. "You remember Kataoka Yuuki?"

"She placed first in the individuals on the first day, didn't she?" Mihoko added, "And we played one another during the team tournament."

"Yeah, that's her. She's a cheeky little thing."

"I'm sure she looks up to you in her own way. She seems like a rather energetic girl."

"Oh, she is," Hisa gave a frown. "She's crazy about tacos, so I'll have to think of some way to keep her with a steady supply."

Mihoko gave a small look of surprise. "Even during the training camp?"

"Rather, especially during the training camp." Hisa leaned back into her chair. "She can't play well without her tacos. I guess it sounds strange, but it's not like I have the right to say anything — I have my own way of playing too."

"Yes, everyone has her own unique way of playing," Mihoko agreed amiably.

"If you remember, she was making a fuss during the first round. That was because Ryuumonbuchi ate her taco. I still didn't get a chance to thank you for helping her then."

"Oh, that was —"

"No, don't. Thank you."

Under Ueno-san's gaze, Mihoko ordered her thoughts to form a coherent reply. "I thought she might have been hungry, but I didn't have any tacos in my lunch box so I don't think..."

"Ah, but Yuuki gets riled up with anything that has 'tako' in it. She goes crazy over 'tako' dishes all the time."

"Then..."

"Yep. I'm pretty sure it's because you had tako-san wieners in your lunch."

"I'm glad it could help."

"Yuuki ended up really taking a beating from you anyway after all that, but I think it was a good experience for her."

"Something like polishing a rough diamond?"

"Haha, maybe." Hisa munched on a Pocky stick thoughtfully. "By the way, are you going to play any mahjong the coming week? The training camp isn't for a few more days."

"Well, it's the summer vacation, so..."

"Mm, I don't mean at school."

"I might play one or two games with my family this weekend, but that'll probably be about it until the camp."

"You have a mahjong table at home?" Hisa further inquired.

"Ah, yes."

"Hm, I thought so."

"Ueno-san? Is anything the matter?" Mihoko tilted her head questioningly. Ueno-san seemed to be deliberating something. She couldn't recall a time where she'd ever seen Ueno-san waver, hesitate, or mull over something instead of acting. It only reminded her how little she knew about Ueno-san beyond her role as Kiyosumi's student council president and mahjong club president.

"I was wondering whether you played mahjong online."

Online mahjong? What could Ueno-san have in mind?

Mihoko started apologetically, "No, computers and I don't really..."

"— don't really mix, I take?" Hisa gave Mihoko a charming smile. "I thought as much, but I wanted to make sure." Hisa played with the cardboard tab from the Pocky box. "I'm not sure if you'd like the idea, but I thought it might be fun to play against one another. I've been wondering if I could get you to play into my hand. So if you'd like, we could try play online together."

"Yes. I — I would like that very much," Mihoko said earnestly.

Hisa scratched her head sheepishly. "Really? I wasn't sure if you would. The question's been nagging at the back of my mind the last few minutes, to be honest. I didn't know if I should ask."

"I really would like to. But I'm very bad with computers and computer terms, so I don't know if you would... If it'll really inconvenience you, then —"

"Hey, I've got it covered. We're fine as long as you're interested. I'll write out the instructions or something, and if you're free next week, you could come ov—"

Hisa paused mid-sentence as she heard the muffled but distinctive whistle and crackle of fireworks outside the clubroom.

Mihoko was rather surprised that time had passed so quickly with Ueno-san. "It's already seven...?"

"Seems like it. We'll finish talking about online mahjong later. Why don't you head out toward the deck first — I'll turn the lights off."

"Okay."

Mihoko placed her cup on the stand and manoeuvred past the chairs and the mahjong table before Ueno-san turned the lights off. She opened the door to the deck and a warm, inviting summer breeze blew past her face. She could hear the festival in the distance; Ueno-san's club members were probably there already, visiting and browsing at various stalls. She would have liked to see Ueno-san in a yukata, but spending time with her one-on-one was something that she treasured far more. Mihoko walked out and gazed at the unfamiliar night scene.

She heard the door click shut behind her. Mihoko turned to face Ueno-san, who'd just come out onto the deck.

"So what did I miss?"

The deck was more spacious than she'd imagined at first, and it stretched outward for a good two, three metres. She was near the deck's edge, within a few paces of the guard. Ueno-san stood near the tall, austere windows of the Westernised clubroom, dwarfed by it in size, but nevertheless projected an undeniable sense of presence that Mihoko found hard to describe. Ueno-san had a carefree smile on her face and one hand casually at her hip. Her face was gently shrouded by the soft bluish darkness of nightfall.

"Nothing much. It's just starting," Mihoko answered with a small smile.

"Oh, that's good."

Ueno-san approached slowly with eyes looking upward at the night sky. She stood by her side.

The sleeve of Ueno-san's uniform brushed against her arm lightly.

"Fukuji-san."

"Yes?" Mihoko glanced at her.

"Are you afraid of heights?"

"No, not really...?"

"Alright, that's good." Hisa stepped forward and held her weight up with her arms, and swung herself onto the partition in one smooth, practised movement. Sitting on the ledge, she looked back at Mihoko and said, "You should come up here. It feels less cramped than on the deck."

"Ueno-san...! Are you sure it's safe? What if you —"

"Relax. I've been doing this for two, three years. I'm a veteran at it. Besides, the roof is really wide and barely slopes down. I'm just on the ledge right now anyway."

"But..."

"We'll stay near the partition. C'mon, there's nothing to worry about if you're not afraid of heights."

Mihoko hedged for a moment. "Well, okay..."

"You don't sound convinced," Hisa grinned. "I'll keep you safe. Promise."

Mihoko looked at her with good-natured resignation and caved in. "I'll haunt you and follow you everywhere if I die."

"Sure, I'm fine with that as long as you promise not to follow me into the washroom." Hisa extended her hand with a warm smile.

Mihoko took her hand. Ueno-san steadied her as she attempted to clamber over and onto the partition. Although she wasn't exceptionally afraid of heights, she would've felt uneasy leaning forward over a ledge at this height without Ueno-san's reassuring hand supporting her. Her skirt was an inch or two shorter than Ueno-san's, and her bare knee pressed against the hard, unrelenting edge as she pushed herself up.

Ueno-san's grip was firm and steady.

She sat down on the ledge, but her skirt rode up much higher than she was comfortable with. Reluctantly, she loosened her grip on Ueno-san's hand to adjust her skirt. Mihoko rubbed the imprint on her knee and directed a smile toward Ueno-san.

"The view really is nicer from here."

"Isn't it?"

They turned their gaze toward the fireworks. Mihoko flexed the hand that Ueno-san had held, trying to hold onto the intangible sensation of her touch. Ueno-san's hand was dry, and unexpectedly warm. She wished she could hold onto her hand just a bit longer.

It seemed like they missed the beginning of the fireworks while Ueno-san was trying to convince her to get on the ledge, as Mihoko could hear the crowd's animated response in the distance. Before she could lament the display she missed, a new set of fireworks flared up high and exploded in a beautiful flurry of violet-blue patterns. As the first display dimmed, a new set shot up like streams of fountains at different angles in the distance. They crisscrossed one another at a much lower altitude than the earlier ones.

She heard more cheering and clapping as successive sets of three burst into the vast, expansive sky. They exploded into brilliant flashes of colour that sparkled vibrantly before disappearing into nothingness. The crackle of fireworks echoed in the distant background as Mihoko glanced at Ueno-san out of the corner of her eye. She was glad that Ueno-san was on her left; otherwise it would've been hard to look at her furtively.

Looking at her face from this distance in the privacy that the semi-darkness afforded made Mihoko wonder how Ueno-san would take it if she told her.

If she told her —

It was only an infatuation at most, at this point. But she wanted more. She wanted the feelings to grow.

More —

More than wanting to get into a good university, more than wanting to avoid a future as a career-less housewife married to a man she didn't love, more than wanting a bright future for herself and her family — at that moment, what she wanted the most was for Ueno Hisa to know her feelings.

Mihoko felt as though she'd never desired anything so selfishly in her life.

An extra loud explosion of fireworks broke her out of the daze. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears as she looked away. She breathed deeply and slowly to regain her composure.

They watched the fireworks in silence. Mihoko let the intensity she felt earlier seep out of her as she watched the flashes, explosions, and lights fade. And ignite. And fade again.

After several minutes, Hisa stretched her arms out in front and let out a small sigh. "Ah, my eyes are a bit sore from watching the flashes. You holding up okay?" Hisa ran a hand through her hair. "Fukuji-san?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking," Mihoko smiled. "Isn't it because you were working on student council-related things?"

"Yeah, maybe." Hisa hopped down from the ledge onto the roof. "And my legs are starting to get numb." Hisa shook her legs to get rid of the tingling sensation. She looked at Mihoko. "Aren't yours?"

"No, not yet."

Hisa mussed her hair. "Guess that means my legs are fatter."

An amused smile spread across Mihoko's face as she turned her gaze toward Ueno-san. "Where did you get that from?"

"A TV programme," she replied. "They say fat globules block your veins and —" Hisa gave a little smirk and wiggled the fingers of her hand ominously.

"I don't think that's how it goes, Ueno-san."

"Hm, really?"

"I'm quite sure." Mihoko hopped down from her perch and stood next to Ueno-san on the roof. She clasped her hands in front of her and took a small breath. "Besides, your legs aren't fat."

"Haha, why, thank you." Hisa leaned against the partition to watch the sky again. "Sorry for distracting you from the fireworks, but you were being a bit quiet. I wondered if it was boring you."

"No... I'm having a lot of fun with you." Mihoko watched new fireworks ignite with unrivalled vibrance.

"Same goes for me." Hisa trailed off as more bursts of colour erupted in the sky.

"... thank you, for inviting me today."


	6. Stroll

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

Before we get started, I'd like to mention I've got something up at **arwynl. deviantart. com** (without spaces) so please do take a look. It's a yuri art meme. For translations of the Japanese dialogue, scroll down to the comments at the bottom. The focus of the meme, of course, is on Hisa and Mihoko. So if you'd like to see some HxM fanart, please head on over there right now. I've also got Kana x Mihoko and weird crack pairings over there (think Hisa x Touka). Amongst other things, to say the least.

Enjoy.

* * *

The fireworks show soon ended. It lasted maybe ten minutes in total, but it didn't seem to sate her rather festive mood. Even so, putting on such an extravagant show was already a lavish expense as the annual Kiyosumi summer festival was only a relatively small-scale local event. Nevertheless, it was a great one, especially for the kids running around decked out in yukata or jinbei.

Originally, she wanted to take Acchan to the festival, but the little tyke already went to Tanabata in Hiratsuka with her mother a few days earlier. In addition to that, she had to stay late at school to organise the various clubs' applications and forms for the summer, meaning it was impossible to take Acchan to the festival any earlier. While Acchan's sleeping time varied, it would probably be really pushing it to take her out late. In the end, she didn't bring the idea up around her cousin or Acchan.

It was a pity, but there was always next year. And there were always other festivals; she would probably get to see Acchan for Shichi-Go-San, which was one event she definitely didn't want to miss. The festival was also pretty close to her own birthday, so she imagined her cousin would cave in and let Acchan stay over that weekend.

Hisa then glanced at Fukuji-san and wondered if she lived in Yokohama or if she commuted to Kazekoshi from a different city. If Fukuji-san lived in a populous place like Yokohama, the fireworks here would surely pale in comparison to the displays at larger festivals.

But she seemed to be enjoying herself, so...

"It's no problem, really." Hisa leaned back slightly and chuckled. She added with a small grin, "You've thanked me at least four times already."

"Ah..." Mihoko looked a bit chagrinned. "But I really enjoyed myself today. I feel bad declining your offer to visit the stalls, since..."

"And I distinctly recall saying it was fine. You're a really funny girl, you know?"

Mihoko dipped her head and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "How am I supposed to take that?"

"Hm, I wonder," Hisa teased. "How do you want to take it?"

She turned around and hopped off from her perch.

"Ueno-san..."

"Yeah?" Hisa murmured absently as she tugged on her stockings.

"Are you having fun at my expense?"

Hisa pressed a hand to her chest and looked at Mihoko innocently. "Me? I wouldn't dream of it. I bet your team would cream me if I made fun of their precious Captain." She grinned at the small frown that followed, and extended her hand. "Here, c'mon, I'll help you down."

Mihoko sighed reproachfully before she accepted the offer by taking Hisa's hand.

Helping Fukuji-san off the partition was much easier than helping her on, partly due to the fact she herself was on firm ground now. Hisa loosened her grip when she thought Fukuji-san regained her footing. Fukuji-san's hand lingered, however; perhaps she was unsteady on her feet, after all?

"It's a bit late for this, but I've come to the realisation that you're a tease, Ueno-san."

"Well, hey, I won't deny that charge." Hisa gave a small smirk, "In return though, I'll say you're maybe a little too polite."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Oh, not at all. I don't mean that — better to be polite than not, right? It just amuses me since it's so in line with your image."

"What kind of image do I have to you? I'm kind of curious."

"Hm..." Hisa walked along the deck and back towards the clubroom. "It's kind of hard to put it into words, but..."

Mihoko followed. "But?"

"Well, how should I say it..." Hisa put her hand against the clubroom door and paused contemplatively. "It may not be very accurate, but you're sort of like a modern-day Yamato Nadeshiko with your club members."

"What would a modern-day variant be like? A motherly housewife, maybe?"

"Well," Hisa smiled, "I actually meant it the other way around. More of a considerate and protective figure who fiercely stands up for people she cares about."

"Oh..."

"I've heard the horror stories about your coach," Hisa said sympathetically, "and how you stand up to her for your club members. But hey, I'm sure you'd make a great wife too."

Mihoko smiled in return. "It's just that I get 'you'd make a great housewife' and 'any man will consider himself lucky if he marries you' a lot..." Mihoko added modestly, "Though I don't think it's true, it's..."

"Ah, you don't like it?"

"I..." Mihoko paused hesitantly. "... I'm not thinking about getting a husband, at least."

"So you're looking to get a career first? That's pretty ambitious."

"How about you...?"

Hisa mussed her hair and laughed, "I'm too young to consider marriage just yet, don't you think?"

"That's true. We're still young, after all."

"We are indeed. Come on, let's get back into the clubroom. I'll clean up quickly so you can get home."

"Oh, no, please let me help —"

"Hey, you're the guest, aren't you?" Hisa reminded her lightly.

"Then let me help put the snacks away, at least?"

Fukuji-san really was too polite. Endearingly so.

"Okay, okay. I concede. You win this round," Hisa laughed. She picked up her cup and downed the last of her tea. Hisa picked up Mihoko's cup and saucer as well, and headed over to the sink to wash up.

They left the clubroom soon thereafter. They were past the old school building and in front of Kiyosumi when Hisa found herself in an argument with Fukuji-san. Perhaps 'argument' wasn't the best word to describe it, but they certainly had a difference of opinion.

"What's wrong with me walking you back to the station?" Hisa asked quizzically.

"There's nothing wrong with it; I just don't think you should go to the trouble," explained Mihoko.

"And I said it wasn't any problem. As a matter of fact, you'd trouble me more if I have to worry about someone who's technologically challenged getting lost in the middle of nowhere." Hisa added on a hunch, "And that certain someone wouldn't even be able to pull up a map from the Internet on her cell."

"Zushi isn't in the middle of nowhere," she protested.

Hisa grinned inwardly. Fukuji-san wasn't denying the allegation she couldn't retrieve a map of the city on her cell phone.

"Since the festival's going on, I doubt you'll see many people between Kiyosumi and the train station tonight."

"I know my way around. And I can call someone if something happens."

Hisa considered teasing Fukuji-san more, but settled for answering her more or less seriously. "Like who?"

Mihoko balked at the question. "Um..."

It seemed like Fukuji-san realised at the same time that the closest person who could help her was... her.

"See? And you don't even have my number yet," Hisa continued.

"... that's true."

She could almost taste victory. Just a bit more...

"Besides, we haven't talked about online mahjong yet. Unless you want to try and figure out how and where to register all by yourself..." she trailed off meaningfully.

"That's cheating, Ueno-san!"

"How so?" Hisa asked innocently.

"You know I can't do it myself."

"Well, then I guess you're stuck with me," Hisa grinned again as she began walking in the direction of the train station.

Hisa heard Fukuji-san make a small, quiet petulant sound in response before following her. Teasing the girl was more fun that she imagined.

"Hey, what's with that noise? I didn't know I made such poor company."

"You're incorrigible, Ueno-san."

"Certainly isn't the first time I've heard that," Hisa remarked. "Thanks for the compliment."

"It certainly wasn't a compliment either..."

"Haha. Well, mind handing me your phone?"

Mihoko glanced at Hisa for a moment but obeyed and handed her cell phone over. Hisa began to punch in a number.

"Are you giving me your phone number?"

"Yup. But I'm just calling my own cell from yours first." Hisa clasped her schoolbag under her arm. Pulling her own cell phone out, she saved Fukuji-san's number to her contacts list. "What's your e-mail address?"

"It's set as my background," Mihoko said timidly.

"Ah, you're right. So it is."

Hisa punched in the e-mail address and proceeded to enter her own information into Fukuji-san's contacts list.

"Just as a warning, I type very slowly on a cell phone. People usually give up on it and settle for calling me instead."

"Well, I'll need to know your e-mail address when I show you how to play online mahjong anyway. But since you have a Yahoo account already, we won't have to set up a new one. I'll just need to show you how to access the games room —"

Hisa glanced at Fukuji-san who had what could only be described as a look of incomprehension on her face, despite her efforts at hiding it.

Fukuji-san was worse with computers than she thought; normally no one would find it hard to understand she had to sign up and register to access certain features of a site. She really was something else.

"I'm sorry, I understood every individual word you said, but it just didn't mesh into anything I could understand," Mihoko started apologetically.

"It's fine, it's fine," Hisa reassured. But if it came to this, Hisa thought, she'd have to instruct Fukuji-san face-to-face. Hisa had been considering the idea of either instructing her in person or over the phone, but the latter option seemed like a poor choice now. "I think we should meet at the clubroom for this. When are you free next week?"

"Let's see... is Tuesday okay?"

She would have to finish her homework before then for cram school on Wednesday, but their informal little tutorial shouldn't take that long. There was no school either, so it should be pretty easy to work around it.

"Tuesday sounds good. What time?"

"Anytime would be fine, but how about around ten, if that's not too inconvenient?"

"Sure. I'll see you at ten then. I'll wait for you by Kiyosumi at the front." Hisa flipped the two phones closed. She slipped hers in her bag and handed the other back to Mihoko. "Here, I entered my number and my e-mail address. You can message me or call me whenever you want."

"Thank you."

"No problem." She added playfully, "This also means you can call me if you do end up getting lost around Zushi."

"Luckily, I have a fairly good sense of direction," Mihoko said wryly.

"Oh, that's too bad. I was planning on rescuing you if that happened."

Mihoko shook her head and smiled. "You have strange hobbies. But thank you for offering to teach me how to play mahjong online. I really appreciate it."

"Likewise. I appreciate you agreeing to it."

As they drew further away from Kiyosumi, the din of the festive merry-making gradually abated as well.

"It would be nice," Mihoko murmured, "if your sister came to the training camp too. Does she still play?"

"She does, though not nearly as much as before. But school doesn't end for her until next Friday, so she won't be able to make it to the training camp."

"Ah, I see."

"She could probably hold her own against the other schools, but I wonder how much she'd like being the only middle schooler there," Hisa pondered.

"Which year is she in right now? There's Bundou-san and several first-years in your club, after all."

"She's a third-year, so it's true that she's only a year younger, but..." Hisa laughed, "Well, it doesn't matter. She's coming to visit me after the training camp anyway."

"To visit?"

Hisa paused a moment. "Ah, yeah. I guess I didn't mention it? We don't live together." She scratched her head awkwardly.

"It's nice that she's coming, then."

"Yeah. Well, if you're still interested then, I'm sure she wouldn't mind meeting you. We could arrange playing online together too, maybe. Sometimes I play her online."

"That sounds lovely," Mihoko said. "But perhaps you're placing too much faith on my ability to learn how to play online..."

"Nah," Hisa joked, "I just have faith in my ability to teach you properly."

"I'll be in your care then, master," replied Mihoko politely.

"That sounded suspiciously condescending," she grinned, "but I'll let it slide this time." Hisa turned her gaze to the wide building they were approaching. "Well, we managed to find our way."

"Thank you for walking me all the way here, Ueno-san."

"It's no problem. I had fun talking with you along the way."

"Thanks again for everything. I'll see you on Tuesday then?"

"Yeah. See you then." Hisa smiled and gave a little wave. "Take care."

Mihoko gave a small nod and smile before leaving.

Hisa watched her walk further into the station. First up the stairs, and then down toward the train platform. Hisa turned to leave when she could no longer see Fukuji-san, who had disappeared down the stairs.

It would, Hisa thought, be rather fun to play against both Fukuji-san and her sister at the same time. What she really wanted to see, though, was Saki entering the fray as well — would Saki's supernatural luck with her rinshan kaihou, Fukuji-san with her calm, analytical, powerful style, her own psychological play, or would her sister's complementary style win?

She'd barely gone past the parking lot when the muffled but familiar ringtone of her phone reached her ears.

"Speak of the devil," Hisa muttered as she dug her phone out and flipped it open. "Miyu?"

_"Hey."_

"Hey yourself," Hisa replied easily. "What's up?"

_"Nothing much. Just felt like bugging you for a bit."_

"Do you really have that much free time?"

_"Hey, give me a break. I've been studying for hours."_

"Bet you haven't," Hisa said.

_"Okay, so I've been reading some manga too."_

"Miyu..." Hisa chided.

_"Oh c'mon, nee-chan."_

Hisa sighed good-naturedly and let it drop. "Fine."

_"Where are you at? I called home and auntie said you weren't back."_

"Some student congress council stuff. And there's the festival I was talking about earlier."

_"Ooo. But didn't you say you weren't going? Are you on a date?"_

"No. Don't be stupid. I'm heading home already anyway."

_"Were you with your club?"_

"No."

_"Were you by yourself?"_

"Well, no..."

_"Did you have some quality one-on-one?"_

"I don't like how you're wording it, but yes...?"

_"Did you have a 'good time'?"_

"Yes, but _not _the way you mean —"

_"Then it _is_ a date!"_ Miyuki exclaimed triumphantly.

"I give up. Do you have sis con or something? When I was actually dating, you were like a Little Miss Possessive."

_"That was just because you had awful taste. I'll make sure you find someone good this time."_

"You know, I've noticed before, but you seem overly fascinated with my love life."

_"It's just so fun exasperating you. I'm sure you understand."_

"Fourteen-year-olds..."

_"Hey! I heard that."_

"I wanted you to hear it," Hisa said sweetly.

_"I'll remember that. You better not regret it,"_ Miyuki grinned. _"Anyway, I called to tell you I finally convinced dad to let me come by myself."_

"That's surprising."

_"... on the condition that my wonderful, ever-worldly, sophisticated sister picks me up at the station."_

"Well, that's dad for you," she laughed.

_"No really?"_

Hisa could practically hear Miyu roll her eyes.

"At least you can tell him your ever-worldly sister said she agreed to pick you up."

_"As she should, if she wants to even be considered for the position."_

"Ingrate," Hisa retorted. "Now go study."

_"Sure, sure. Catch you later."_

"Good luck with your exams."

_"Yeah, thanks. Good luck with your woefully inadequate love life."_ Miyuki hung up.

"Hey —"

Hisa shook her head and flipped her phone closed.

Well, Miyu was right in so far as her love life being somewhat inadequate.

Hisa slipped her cell back into her bag and continued on her way home.

But there wasn't anyone she was really interested in at the moment. That, Hisa thought, made it rather difficult to remedy the situation. It wasn't as though it were only an issue of mustering up her courage to make a confession. There wasn't anyone to confess to.

It would be nice to be in a relationship again after so long, though hopefully to a better end than her last one. Without her mother around, it seemed much more possible. In any case, Hisa consoled herself, it probably wasn't the best of ideas to get involved with anyone while Miyu was over to visit. If the girl even knew she was interested in anyone, she'd get the teasing of her life.

She'd just have to wait till her sister started showing interest in romantic relationships to tease her back. But Miyu seemed content with her circle of friends at the moment, rarely expressing any romantic interest in anyone.

Maybe she really did have sis con, Hisa grinned to herself.


	7. Adoration

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

The following message is brought to you in part by Captain Obvious:

Formatting, I hate you.

* * *

Kana fidgeted excitedly on the spot as she ran a hand through her hair quickly, smoothing and fixing and tucking and fixing any strays. Gotta look her best; gotta look her best for Captain. She tugged and straightened her gillet vest in the front and back for the umpteenth time, wishing she'd brought a wristwatch or a stopwatch or anything.

She could see what time it was if she went back into the station to look at the platform signs, but there was no way she was going to budge from her spot if it potentially meant making Captain wait. Although making the trip back in wouldn't take more than a minute, and Captain wasn't going to leave just like that if she didn't see her right away, Kana tried to reason with herself.

She took in a deep breath. She wasn't making much sense, but it didn't matter. Because there was only one thing on her mind now; getting the chance to see Captain before the training camp was really, really going to make her day. Kana tried to still herself, but she couldn't stop her fidgeting. She was already feeling antsy and restless. Missing several chances last week to walk with Captain to the station and taking the train together didn't help either.

In light of the critically low levels of Captain and Kana-chan interactions, Kana knew she had to do something so she could spend some time with Captain before the training camp, still several — and painfully long — days away. In the best-case scenario, she would have gotten a whole day to spend with her, but there was no helping it if Captain had previous engagements and couldn't allow for it. Kana thought back to the phone call she made on Friday.

_"Hello?"__  
__  
__"Captain!"__  
__  
__"Good evening, Kana."__  
__  
__"Good evening, Captain! How did it go? Was everything okay?"__  
__  
__"It went well, silly," Mihoko laughed. "Kiyosumi's Ueno-san was the one who invited us, after all."__  
__  
__"Ahahaha, yeah, that's what I thought," Kana said sheepishly. "But you said it'd be a quick trip when you left, so I got a bit worried and stuff when you weren't home yet when I called earlier." __  
__  
__"I'm all right," she reassured. "Something just came up a bit after, that's all."__  
__  
__"Oh, I understand. Ahaha, I know I'm worrying for nothing."__  
__  
__Mihoko smiled and said, "I know you mean well. You're always looking out for me."__  
__  
__"It's only expected! I'm just doing my part for the club since you're Captain," Kana said enthusiastically. "B-By the way! Do we need to get anything for the camp other than the usual?"__  
__  
__"Well, it seems like Ueno-san has most of it under control, but she suggested we could buy some snacks for our members."__  
__  
__Was Kiyosumi going to skimp on snacks? Captain, in comparison, when preparing for camps, would always go out to buy food herself, carry it herself, and make it for everyone herself and stuff!__  
__  
__Mihoko added, "She bought a lot of snacks for the camp already, so we don't have to get a lot. She made the suggestion because she thought I'd want to help."__  
__  
__Wha —!__  
__  
__Thought Captain 'would want to help'? Wasn't that a bit too presumptuous? A small flicker of annoyance flit through Kana's mind. As expected of Kiyosumi's ill-mannered captain. Who slammed mahjong tiles anyway? And wasn't her name Takai or something?__  
__  
__"It's very kind of you to help, Captain! I'll be around your part of Kamakura during the weekend, so if you're free..."__  
__  
__"Oh, I'm sorry, I have plans with my family. I was planning on getting the snacks after the weekend, but please don't worry about it — snacks don't weigh much, so I'll be able to manage myself."__  
__  
__Nyah?__!  
__  
__"A-Ahahaha, d-did I say the weekend? I meant... I meant... I meant I was going to go later too!"__  
__  
__That was close. Good save, Kana-chan!_  
_  
__"Oh, I see, did you get mixed up since we have summer vacation?"__  
__  
__"Y-Yeah! That's why. And it's not urgent, so I can take care of it whenever I like. Wh-When will you be free?"__  
__  
__"Let's see, I'm shopping with Mizuhara-san and Noyama-san on Monday..."__  
__  
__"Then how about Tuesday?" Kana asked eagerly.__  
__  
__"... I'm sorry, Kana, I'm busy on Tuesday too," Mihoko said apologetically. "Are you free Monday afternoon?"__  
__  
__"Yeah!"_

Half a day with Captain was enough — more than enough. And she'd be able to spend four whole days and three whole nights with Captain at the training camp.

Kana clenched her fists tightly and felt a bout of nervous excitement.

Then it hit her — it'd be like a sleepover and stuff!

She'd never stayed someplace overnight with Captain for anything other than mahjong tournament events. But this — this was an unbelievable chance. They wouldn't have to worry about tournaments or anything and they could have fun. The nationals were coming up, of course, and she'd never distract Captain from training, of course, but breaks were necessary, of course, and they could spend that time together, of course!

From what she heard from Captain, each school was going to get a room to share among its club members, so that meant sleeping in the same room as Captain for sure.

_Mahjong and Captain. Captain and mahjong!_

And if she played against Amae Koromo again and won, Captain was sure to praise her. She was determined to win this time. Amae couldn't win forever — third time's the charm, right?

Since she played so poorly during the qualifiers and made Kazekoshi lose — again — it was probably a bit too much to hope for any praise related to the tournament. But during the event, first Miharun was praised by Captain, then Bundou was hugged by Captain on TV for everyone to see, and Sumi was encouraged by her.

The thought was kinda depressing.

"Good afternoon, Kana."

"N-nyah! Captain —!"

Kana spun around quickly on the spot to greet Captain, but her breath hitched in her throat.

Captain was wearing a grey blouse dress with half-length sleeves that gave off a really summery feel. And the lace from a dark camisole peeked out along the modest neckline of the dress, in contrast with her pale skin. It looked really good on her.

No.

It looked really, really, _really_ good on her.

"You're early again today. Did you get to finish what you had to do?"

"Y-yeah. I finished early so I thought I'd wait here, ahahaha..."

Captain would decline for sure if she knew she came just to help. The usual trips to buy heavy groceries withstanding, there was no way she'd accept the offer for buying light snacks, which, truthfully, didn't really require much help.

But there wasn't anything wrong with wanting to spend more time with Captain and stuff.

"And here I thought I'd be earlier than you for once," Mihoko jived. "Noyama-san had to leave early, so we decided to cut it short, unfortunately."

"Then is Noyama-senpai okay?"

"Yes, but apparently one boyfriend outweighs two friends," Mihoko intoned, before a small, lilting laugh escaped her lips.

"So that's how it is," Kana nodded.

Not that she really understood it — there was no way she'd ditch Captain to meet anyone else, ever.

"She was wavering, but we just told her to go and have fun," Mihoko said as she started walking to the Family Mart nearby. "And since she was the one who insisted we go try a new flavour of ice cream afterward, we decided to postpone it till next time."

Kana tucked her hands behind her back and followed. "You're too nice, Captain. I wouldn't like it if someone did that."

Mihoko laughed. "There's no point if her heart's not in it, don't you think?"

"Well, that's true..."

"And there's no harm done either. We were just window shopping and catching up since we were busy with exams earlier."

"Thanks for your hard work, Captain! Third-year must be tough, but you're still so involved in the club," Kana spoke earnestly with clenched fists.

Mihoko glanced at Kana and said gently, "I am the captain, after all, so it's my responsibility. And I like mahjong too much to give it up. Isn't it the same with you?"

"Ahaha, you got me there," Kana said with a hand to her head.

Mihoko deliberated for a moment before she said, "Since we're on this topic... Kana."

"Yes?"

Captain sounded really serious.

"I've been thinking of asking whether you want to be the captain next year."

"H-Hah? Me?"

"Rank-wise, neither Kubo-coach nor anyone else should complain," Mihoko said, "and you've certainly contributed to the club above and beyond anyone's expectations."

Kana felt her cheeks heat up under Captain's scrutiny and her choice of words.

Praise? Was this praise?

"I... I haven't thought about it before."

"A lot of the first-years really look up to you. Especially after I tell them how you made it onto the regulars even in your first year," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Please don't tease me with that, Captain!" Kana pleaded. "Didn't you do the same in your first year? And Bundou too!"

"Bundou-san is in the same grade as the other first-years, so I would be putting her on the spot if I brought it up forcibly. And I can't go around telling people I made it onto the team in my first year, so you're the best choice, Kana."

"Uuh..."

Kana bowed in the face of the irrefutable logic.

Mihoko smiled again. "I'm sorry for teasing you, but please do think about it. I would be more than happy to put in a recommendation for you as next year's captain."

"Okay," Kana gave a half-smile. "Thank you, Captain. I'll think about it."

"Take your time," Mihoko said, "and don't feel pressured to accept."

"Okay."

As someone who broke Kazekoshi's six-year winning streak twice, it seemed laughable to suggest she could be Kazekoshi's captain. But Captain was seriously considering her for the position.

She wanted to live up to Captain's expectations. She wanted to help the club. And like Captain said earlier, she, too, loved mahjong too much to give it up. She'd think about it. She'd really think about it, but there were other concerns too. She'd have schoolwork and she'd have to look after her kid sisters if their parents were busy.

With those thoughts weighing on her mind, they entered the Family Mart convenience store. Kana got a shopping basket for Captain and took one for herself.

"What do we need to get? And how much, Captain?" Kana tried to put some extra cheer in her voice. She wasn't going to let anything dampen her mood and interfere with her precious time with Captain.

"Well, not too much. Just a little bit of everyone's favourites." Mihoko picked up a packet of candies and held it out for Kana to see. "And some Milk Soft Candy for you."

"Aheheh," Kana rubbed her head sheepishly, "do you mind if I get that myself this time too?"

"You shouldn't encourage Hina-chan and the others to eat too much candy, Kana," Mihoko frowned.

"I promised them a few days ago I would... since it was their birthday and everything."

Kana omitted the embarrassing part where the three squirts were giving her cute, teary looks and pleading over and over again until she gave in... then proceeded to roll around laughing how she fell for it.

"Oh, I completely forgot... did your parents celebrate with them this year?"

"Yeah, all six of us went out for dinner," Kana said with a grin. "They really enjoyed themselves."

"That's good to hear. And I suppose... a little candy for the birthday girls wouldn't hurt, right?" Mihoko smiled.

Kana grinned. "Yeah!"

"But this is how we'll do it —" Mihoko picked up another packet and placed both into her basket. "One's for the training camp, and the second one's my present to Hina-chan, Nazuna-chan, and Shirona-chan."

"But —"

Kana's protest died on her lips. Captain's expression, while gentle and kind as always, was firm and brooked no arguments.

She can be really stubborn sometimes, Kana thought fondly.

"Then I'll say thanks for them," Kana smiled.

Their baskets had some of everyone's favourites by the time they reached the cashier, including Captain's favourite Pocky. Captain had smiled and gently insisted on getting a few extra boxes as well. Maybe Captain was running low at home.

Since they'd shopped enough for the regulars to know their likes and dislikes inside out, their little trip didn't last as long as she wanted. It was regrettable, but maybe they could go for ice cream after, since Captain originally planned on having some anyway. It was hot enough for it.

Kana rehearsed possible lines of invitation in her head as she held onto a packet of Milk Soft Candy and Captain's extra boxes of Pocky.

'_It's kind of hot isn't it? Why don't we..._'

'_Ah, I'm thirsty! Maybe we should get..._'

'_Captain! You must be tired. Let's..._'

Kana remained deep in thought as Captain was in line waiting for the cashier to scan the items. They had decided to keep the receipts separate as the other snacks were going to be paid for from the club's funds. It was just easier to keep track.

Breaking out of her reverie before long, Kana handed the items in her arms to Captain after the cashier packed everything else up.

After everything was paid for, Kana reached for all three bags. She held onto them as she stood beside Captain, waiting for her to put her Suica away.

"We bought a lot, didn't we, Captain?" Kana said cheerfully as she swung the bags lightly.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that really added up.

"We did. I'll be surprised if we manage to eat it all. But if there are any unopened ones left over, we can just add it to the snacks in the club room."

Opening up her handbag, Mihoko rearranged a few things before slipping her wallet back in.

"Oh, Captain, what's that?" Kana asked curiously. She had caught a glimpse of a small bag that had the word "electronics" on it. Why would Captain...?

"Ah," Mihoko clutched the hidden item reflexively, "I just bought a little something earlier, after Noyama-san left..."

"At an _electronics store_!"

"Kana..." Mihoko's voice held soft reproach.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to shout," Kana said abashedly. "B-B-But an electronics store?"

"It's not an electronic device. Just a trinket. A decoration," Mihoko explained. "I thought I'd — Kana, do you think it's weird... if I buy something to thank someone for organising an event?"

Captain's face was flushed a light pink, and Kana mentally berated herself for having embarrassed her by shouting.

Furthermore, there was only one recent person who fit the description that Captain just gave.

"You mean Kiyosumi's... Takai?"

"Takei," Mihoko corrected in a quiet voice.

"Right, Takei. You mean her, Captain?"

"I was speaking hypothetically, but what if it were in her case?"

"Well," Kana pondered, "if you mean in general, it really depends what kind of event it was and your relationship with that person. But if you mean her, I wouldn't go out of my way to get her anything."

"Why's that?"

"She's holding the camp as practice for her club before the nationals, right? Of course we benefit from it as well — especially you, Captain, since you're going to be in the nationals — but her main goal is to help her team."

Not to mention acting like she were doing Captain a favour by getting her to buy snacks.

It drew a small frown from Mihoko. "I guess you have a point. It would be weird to..." she trailed off.

Did she give good advice?

Kana wondered.

She didn't like that Takei much, so maybe she was being a little too harsh, but it was the truth. Still, seeing that wavering expression on Captain's face tugged at her heart.

It didn't matter if it really were a hypothetical question or not.

Regardless of everything else —

"But Captain, if you feel like giving someone a gift as thanks, I think you should," Kana said, softening her tone. "I'm sure it'd be really appreciated. And it's definitely not weird at all."

Mihoko smiled slightly. "It might be a bit meddlesome, though."

"No way! Like I said, with me around, there's no way anyone could find you meddlesome or annoying."

Mihoko laughed. "Thank you for the advice, Kana." She reached out and stroked her hair lightly.

_Nya..._

"Let's go, shall we? Here, let me hold two bags," Mihoko said.

"Ohtay. Yesh, Capten," she warbled.

Mihoko took two from an unresisting Kana and walked out the store.

"... Kana?"

"Y-Yesh! Er, yes! Coming!"

Kana trotted after her beloved Captain dutifully, with a goofy grin plastered on her face.


	8. Enliven

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

'Falter' will get slightly more mahjong-centric soon. As much as I'd like to make all chapters equally accessible, it's pretty much impossible to 'dumb down' mahjong. You just have to know the terms... or allow your eyes to glaze over/discontinue reading. Your choice. I've put up some helpful Japanese mahjong links on my site if one wants to try exploring uncharted waters.

I may write up a post as a crash course in mahjong when 'Falter' necessitates it, but so far I think we're okay.

* * *

Hisa set her notebook down on the desk lightly and pulled the chair out before motioning Fukuji-san over. "Here, take a seat."

"Thank you," Mihoko nodded as she took the offer and sat straight on the edge of the chair.

Hisa retrieved one of the swivel chairs from the mahjong table and tugged it up beside her, plopping down smoothly. She leaned over to flick on the switch and sat back down as the familiar hum of the computer reached her ears. She took a quick glance sideways and gave Fukuji-san a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Don't be so tense," Hisa advised with a smile. "It's not like the computer's gonna bite."

"Sorry," Mihoko said apologetically. "I'll try my best."

"I'm sure you will. But before that —" She put both hands on Fukuji-san's shoulders and felt her tense upon contact. "You're as straight as a ramrod. Sit back in the chair and relax, alright?"

"Right. I can do this."

Only she could be this serious for something like learning how to play an online game, Hisa thought warmly. It was kind of cute, but she imagined Fukuji-san would treat it as more of her teasing if she said it out loud.

"Okay, first step!" Hisa said in a bright voice. "Try going to the Yahoo homepage like you normally do when you check your e-mail from the computer."

She wasn't half as bad as she made herself out to be, Hisa thought as she watched Fukuji-san use the computer. She opened the browser and pulled the page up at a reasonable pace, though perhaps on the slow end compared to their peers. Her typing speed, Hisa assessed, was probably around average.

Not bad, not bad. With what Fukuji-san had been telling her, she wouldn't be surprised if the girl used hunt and peck typing instead.

She opened the cover for her notebook and let it run. It probably wasn't going to take too long to show Fukuji-san, after all.

"Okay, good. Now scroll down a bit, and look on your left here," Hisa pointed.

Mihoko moved her mouse pointer to the scrollbar and clicked the downward arrow several times.

"Right, so you just click on 'Games' here."

Click.

"Scroll down a bit again."

Click click click click.

"Good. See this? 'Recommended Games'."

Mihoko gave a soft affirmation.

"Just click 'mahjong'. You can't miss it — it's always at the top left-hand corner. Scroll down a bit again."

Click click click click.

"Right, so you see these tabs?" Hisa gestured to the row along the top. "They're different rooms you can play in. You can pick from Social, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Ranking Matches. Level-wise you should play Advanced or Ranking Matches, but we'll start on Social since you're not used to playing online."

Mihoko nodded. "But there are so many rooms... which one should I pick?"

"There's a limit of two hundred people per room, but it's probably easier for us if we go to an emptier one. Try clicking this one — Room 12."

A login page popped up.

"Um..."

"It's fine," Hisa assured. "You just haven't logged in yet, so put in your e-mail address and password like usual. I'll login to mine while you do that."

"Okay."

Hisa took her notebook and placed it in her lap, quickly typing in her account password. She pulled up the page she needed, logged in to her Yahoo account and opened up Room 12.

Another quick glance in Fukuji-san's direction revealed she was still trying to log in.

"Sorry," Mihoko said rather flustered, "I'm not used to the keyboard layout."

"Don't worry. Take your time." Hisa watched her fumble again, and realised what the problem was. "Ah, sorry. Don't worry, I won't peek at your password." Hisa made a show of turning around slowly and covering her eyes in an exaggerated fashion, balancing her notebook on her lap.

She felt a hesitant hand on her shoulder after several clacks and pauses on the keyboard.

"You done?" She kept her hands clasped over her eyes.

"Yes, you can turn back now."

Hisa turned back and flashed a grin when she saw the tolerant smile on Fukuji-san's face.

"What?"

"I just hope you aren't like this around your first-years," Mihoko said as she shook her head slightly.

"Oh, of course not. But you're different."

"... I am?"

"Yeah, we're in the same year. I goof off with my classmates too."

"Right, that makes sense." Mihoko turned back to the computer screen. "So I logged in... should I pick Room 12 again?"

"Yup. And on the left here you have the option of either joining a table or creating a new one. If you create a new one..."

Mihoko clicked the button.

"... you'll get all these options to choose from to customise what type of game you want to play. I usually just leave it the way it is and start. You can do the same."

"Right, okay."

"And all you have to do is 'sit' down at a spot, and do one of two things — wait for players to join, or play against the computer. In our case..." Hisa lifted her notebook and tapped on her touchpad. "I'll be joining... and you can click the button that says 'Robot' to fill the remaining spaces with computers as opponents."

Mihoko furrowed her brow. "Okay."

"It might seem a bit confusing at first, but I think you'll get it once you start playing. The biggest challenge is getting used to pointing and clicking on a screen instead of physically drawing and discarding tiles. You ready?"

"Y-Yes."

"Okay, I'm going to click 'Start Game' now..."

—

It was rather energising to play against Fukuji-san in her first online mahjong game. They'd decided beforehand to play the first game with both screens in each other's view to facilitate the learning process. Like a foal trying out its legs for the first time, Fukuji-san made little slips and blunders as she tried to find her balance.

"Fukuji-san, you just discarded a dora. This," Hisa pointed to the middle of the screen, "acts as the dora indicator."

"Ah, I see."

Or...

"Are you trying to make a closed hand? If you know you're not going to call, you can click this to automatically pass any pons or chiis."

Or...

When they were both distracted and engaged in conversation, "Make sure you discard within twenty seconds, or it'll automatically pick one —"

"Ah!"

And...

"Ueno-san?"

"Hm?"

"How long have you been in tenpai?"

"For a few go-arounds... why?" She couldn't hide her amusement. Somehow she knew where this was going.

"Why didn't you declare ron in the second last go-around?"

"Well, we did say this was to help you learn how to play. It would've been odd to cut it short."

"Yes..."

She could almost hear the "but..." that wanted to follow. It wasn't like she didn't understand Fukuji-san's reservations. Regardless of the unfamiliar medium, it would still be difficult to accept some sort of handicap from an opponent who wasn't giving her all in something like mahjong.

"It's not like I'll give you a handicap or go easy on you when we're playing for real," Hisa said. "I'd lose if I tried doing that, yeah?" she added with a little nudge.

"You can bet on it," Mihoko smiled as she issued her soft-spoken challenge.

"Alright, then let's get it on," Hisa declared.

The gauntlet was thrown and accepted.

—

"Buchou... are you in there?" a voice grumbled through the closed door. "You told me to wait downstairs at one, and it's one-thirty already..."

Hisa noted the tone of desperation seeping into his voice near the end.

She arched her eyebrow in response to Fukuji-san's questioning look. They were in the middle of a game now, and she was in tenpai. Hisa decided to declare riichi, going for a three-sided wait instead of her usual tactic. With Suga-kun providing a mild distraction in the background, would Fukuji-san fall for it?

"... longer than that before, so that's not a big deal, but it's blazing hot outside today. And the humidity only makes it worse. The good thing is I don't have to wear my school uniform, but the clamminess is killing me."

Hisa watched Fukuji-san out of the corner of her eye. She seemed fairly focussed, despite Suga-kun's continued complaints over the hot weather. Luckily they'd both avoided the worst of it by meeting up a bit before the afternoon heat really hit, but they'd spent more time playing mahjong than she expected. If they left now... well, at least the station wasn't that far from Kiyosumi.

"... there to do? I scrounged all the supermarkets and convenience stores for deals to stay within your budget, bought all the snacks and brought them back here, went to the mahjong parlour to confirm the dates with Fujita-pro who just said you could've called instead —"

It was the last go-around — and it ended in an exhaustive draw.

Hisa peered at the screen to see Fukuji-san's hand, but she didn't have any of her winning tiles, making it impossible to tell whether the distraction worked or not.

Well, there were always more opportunities — both online and in person.

"Buchou," Kyoutarou wailed, "are you even in there or am I just talking to myself?"

Hisa decided to act before Fukuji-san gave her another one of those 'Won't you please see what he needs? We shouldn't leave him hanging...' looks like when she'd left Morikawa-kun to his own devices the week before.

"Excuse me," she muttered as she stood and strode over to the door.

She really needed to work on that. She was a sucker for those innocent pleading looks — ones from her devious sister withstanding, as she'd developed immunity to them over the years — and ended up succumbing more often than not.

With a hand on her hip, Hisa put her very best charming smile on her face and opened the clubroom door with a flourish.

"Oh, you're here!" Hisa beamed with surprise. "It's a nice day out, isn't it?"

"Buchou, you know how hot it is, don't you?" Kyoutarou plucked at his sweat-drenched T-shirt listlessly for emphasis.

"Oh, don't be like that. Sweating helps remove harmful toxins from the body, you know." Hisa added delicately, "Though B.O. can... be an issue."

"Don't look at me like that! I showered! This morning!" he said defensively. "And why didn't you open the door sooner?"

"What do you think?" Hisa arched her eyebrow and gestured behind her with a sideways tilt of her head.

"What do you mea —"

Hisa watched Suga-kun's eyes widen and his jaw grow slack when recognition hit. His reaction was only as expected; given his obsession with Nodoka, it was obvious where his... tastes lay.

After a long moment, she ran a hand through her hair and muttered to him, "Okay, enough with the gawking. I'm sure you're troubling her with your questionable gaze."

"B-But buchou! That's —!" he whispered loudly.

Fukuji-san stood and had a friendly, welcoming expression on her face, seemingly oblivious to Suga-kun's behaviour. Either that or she was very good at acting.

"Hello, you must be Suga-san. Your club president has spoke much of you," Mihoko smiled. "I'm —"

"Y-Y-Y-You're that really hot — I mean, you're the captain from Kazekoshi!" Kyoutarou blurted out. "I-It's hot! _Really hot_ today, isn't it! Man, I can't believe the weather!"

It was like a trainwreck seeing him with Fukuji-san — Hisa couldn't take his awkward attempts at interaction, and finally shooed him off. He was the type to have weird fantasies when given the chance, but freeze up when confronted with an actual girl. She shook her head.

And more importantly, shooing Suga-kun away was to prevent him from doing something completely dumb in front of Fukuji-san and make it awkward for everyone.

Hisa leaned against the door that she closed on him, and sighed inwardly.

"He's not like that usually," she explained regretfully.

"It's all right," Mihoko said politely with a half-smile.

Hisa looked at Fukuji-san. It was hard to tell for sure, but she distinctly got the feeling that Fukuji-san was aware of where Suga-kun was staring, and winced in response. Luckily, the neckline of her tunic dress wasn't that deep, so thank goodness for small mercies.

As Hisa maintained her gaze, she decided Fukuji-san looked pretty good in casual clothes. The look was finished off with a nice-looking pair of cropped jeans and a pair of flat mules. Hisa hadn't given much thought before to what Fukuji-san wore on non-school days, but what she wore now seemed to suit her. She broke out of her brief reverie and continued with the line of conversation.

"Still, I'm sorry about his behaviour," Hisa apologised. "It might've been better if you didn't meet him; I was planning on getting Suga-kun to help me after our little mahjong tutorial, you see."

Mihoko furrowed her brow. "I'm sorry, did I intrude upon your time? You said you'd show me how to play online, but we never said whether we'd be playing several games after or not."

"Ah, no, I didn't mean it that way," Hisa clarified. "I just ended up losing track of time playing," she admitted.

"Then... perhaps we can find fault with the dealer who won on small, quick hands continuously in our third game. That game took close to an hour."

"Or," Hisa rejoined, "perhaps we can find fault with the player who took close to the full twenty seconds to decide what to do on every turn... including for chiis and pons."

"That was only during the first round," Mihoko protested.

"Oh, really?"

They grinned at each other for a moment before bursting out into laughter and quiet giggles.

"And perhaps we can find fault in Suga-san for arriving on time, as well."

"Oh, good one! I like that one," Hisa approved.

Mihoko smiled in response. "Joking aside, perhaps I should take my leave? I've taken up a lot of your time today," she said with an incline of her head.

"Well, I do have to pack everything so we can just grab and go Friday morning," Hisa conceded. "And I really don't feel like calling Suga-kun back here right after driving him away just now."

And she definitely didn't need to hear him beg to be included in the upcoming camp for the onsen either. There weren't any mixed onsen at the place they were staying anyway, but that crucial fact seemed to have slipped his mind.

"It's partially my fault that you don't have Suga-kun's help right now. Maybe I can...?"

She was sure that Fukuji-san really did want to help, but it really would be taking advantage of her generous nature by accepting.

"Hey, I really appreciate the gesture, but I can't start slave-driving Kazekoshi's Captain, right?" pointed out Hisa as she walked up to her notebook and closed its lid. "I'm sure I can handle it."

Mihoko gracefully deferred to Hisa's decision. "I understand. Then..."

"Oh, wait," Hisa said with a start.

"Yes?"

"I almost forgot," Hisa said with a grin. She walked over to Fukuji-san, holding a folded piece of paper in her hand. Lifting it up for her to see, she said, "This ultimate online mahjong cheat sheet is for you."

"Ah... thank you," Mihoko blinked. She accepted the piece of paper and looked at it curiously. "May I unfold it?"

"Of course. It's not even a present or anything, so you don't have to ask, you know," Hisa laughed.

"Ah... yes."

Hisa enjoyed the light blush on Fukuji-san's cheeks from her momentary lapse. She realised she was finding the girl more and more interesting by the second.

"Naturally," Hisa couldn't resist adding, "this also means getting a piece of paper for me in return as thanks is unnecessary as well."

She was rewarded with an even more flustered response for her efforts. But Fukuji-san didn't take the bait and chose to overlook it.

"Thank you again for this," Mihoko said wryly with a half-smile.

She'd regained her composure but the blush was not subsiding just yet.

"No problem. Anything to see you blush," Hisa grinned.

Mihoko pressed the back of her hand across her cheek self-consciously. "I can tell you're enjoying this, but I should be leaving, lest I distract you from packing up."

"But it's only Tuesday. I could just come here tomorrow or even the day after," Hisa supplied unhelpfully.

"Even if you live very close by, surely there are more exciting things to spend your summer vacation time on?"

"Hmm, perhaps," Hisa relented. "Then should I walk you to the station?"

"I think I'll be fine this time. I can remember the way now."

"I guess I can't blackmail you into letting me walk you there like last time..."

"Very regretful, I'm sure," Mihoko smiled. "Thank you for today."

"The pleasure's all mine. Give me a call when you want to play — I'm free most nights."

"All right. See you later."

"See ya."


	9. Ensemble

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

HxM AMV by yours truly: **tinyurl. com/ 2b7k9q7**

* * *

Mihoko packed everything she needed into her duffel bag, consulted her checklist several times over, and called the other regulars to give them a reminder about the meeting time the next day — as well as gently reminding them to sleep early to get a good night's rest. With that done, she moved on to some last-minute minutiae, writing down the phone number and address of the training camp for her parents in case she could not be reached by cell phone.

Mihoko surveyed her room briefly and confirmed that she was all set. Pleased that everything was in order, she sat down in her swivel chair and let out a small, relieved sigh.

By all means, she should be in bed already — but she was unable to follow her own advice.

After a moment of deliberation, Mihoko tugged open the topmost drawer of her desk and took out a small package. She slid the cardboard from the plastic and took the pair of pink cell phone charms, dangling them from outstretched hands. What could've possibly possessed her into buying them?

Her brow furrowed in consternation as the sales clerk's words came to her mind — words that had set her heart racing as she impulsively bought the trinkets. The strings entwined between her fingers and she closed her hands into fists.

It — this was madness.

Resting her elbows on the desk and leaning forward slightly, Mihoko let the two charms draw close to one another. After a long moment of abstraction, she pulled the magnetic kissing peaches apart and stilled them in her hands. She stared at the two cute, rotund little peaches.

And as though compelled herself, she brought them closer once again with a small metallic clink.

—

"Fukuji-san?" Hisa peeked into the Kazekoshi resting room. "There you are."

"Ueno-san?" Mihoko looked on with slight surprise. It had barely been half an hour since Ueno-san declared three hours of free time for the participating schools.

"I've been looking for you. Can I have a moment?" Hisa tilted her head slightly at the towels Mihoko was in the midst of folding.

"Ah, yes, just one second," Mihoko said as she folded the last of them and gathered the few face towels in her arms. "I was just about to bring these over to the main room. I thought they might come in handy for our bedridden guests."

Soaking the towels in cold water and using them as makeshift compresses would probably help ease their lightheadedness; the flush on their faces had hardly receded when she last checked on them.

Hisa suggested, "Then why don't we talk while we walk there?"

Mihoko nodded and followed Ueno-san out the door. She slid the door close behind her.

Her wish to see Ueno-san in a yukata had been fulfilled in a roundabout way, but the thought of an outing with her to a summer festival stayed on her mind. Would Ueno-san set her hair up or leave it down? She flit her gaze toward Ueno-san's auburn hair and tried to imagine how she'd look with an upswept hairstyle.

Ueno-san fell back to walk side by side with her, and Mihoko turned her eyes away, toying with the corner of a face towel.

"If you're free after this," Hisa started, "would you like to join me along with Kanbara-san and Ryuumonbuchi-san? I want to go over a few things and consult the presidents from each club to speed things up tomorrow morning and this evening — since we're losing a good chunk of today."

"Of course. I have no problem with that."

"Good. I was banking on that." Hisa broke out into an impish grin and stage-whispered, "That's why I gathered everyone else first before asking you."

Mihoko raised her eyebrows slightly. "Oh?"

"Hey, admit it," Hisa laughed. "You know you weren't going to decline."

"Well..."

"See? But I did think it might be a nuisance to ask everyone right after I declared free time. I was worried about Tsuruga's reply most; Ryuumonbuchi seemed easy enough to convince."

"Really? I would've thought..."

"You just need to know the right buttons to press," Hisa said mysteriously, "to get your desired results." Then Hisa smacked her head as she remembered something. "Ah, but do you mind if I head back to let them know first? It took me awhile to find you, so they've been waiting..."

"No problem. Where are we meeting?"

"At the lounge in front of the reception area," Hisa replied. "You know where those green cushy armchairs are?"

Mihoko nodded. "I remember seeing them. I'll be there right after I check on Bundou-san and Tsuyama-san."

Hisa shook her head. "I'm just going to assume Tsuyama is that girl from Tsuruga — I don't know how you remember everyone's names."

"It's not that hard," Mihoko demurred.

"I only remember the names of exceptional opponents," Hisa jived. "You don't see me forgetting 'Amae Koromo' or 'Fukuji Mihoko', do you?"

"You," Mihoko swatted Ueno-san on her arm lightly. "And besides, I reviewed everyone's names last night."

"But you've got a great memory to remember my name from three years ago," Hisa said with a nudge. "Even though I go by a different one now."

Mihoko felt obliged to ask the question and said hesitantly, "Would you rather I call you Takei-san?"

They reached the hallway that branched off to the lobby and stopped.

"Hm? No, it's fine," Hisa waved it off. "I don't mind. It's a bit nostalgic, and it's kind of fun to see people look at us oddly when you call me Ueno."

So she was off the mark.

"Do they do that?"

"Yeah, like today. You haven't noticed?" With a grin and a wave, Ueno-san took off at a brisk pace to see the other two club presidents.

Mihoko watched her go. Ueno-san's response was very normal and casual, and Mihoko had to wonder if she were overthinking things. Perhaps the truth to her sudden disappearance and name change wasn't nearly as dramatic as she had come to believe.

Since Ueno-san was living apart from her sister, the logical explanation would be a family divorce. It would explain the name change, but it did not explain giving up on the nationals halfway through or abstaining from the qualifiers for the last few years.

But there was no way to know unless she could muster the courage to ask — to ask for the reason why their reunion was delayed by three long years.

Mihoko sighed.

But she was glad she could still call her Ueno-san, as it warmed her to think they had something just between them. And the thought of calling her 'Takei-san' sounded too stiff, too formal, too foreign to her ears. It wasn't as though she could call her by her first name; even if Ueno-san were willing, Mihoko doubted she could get the words out.

But to be on a first-name basis with Ueno-san...

_Hisa _—_ Hisa _—_ Hisa-san. And she'd call me _—

Her face heated at the thought.

—

Mihoko had yet to have a chance to speak with the club presidents of Ryuumonbuchi and Tsuruga directly. Everyone had gone into the hot springs earlier and conversed amicably, but most of the interactions had been restricted to their own respective schools. She herself mostly conversed with her regulars, and Kana, who was more excited than usual, had kept her occupied. Her contact with Ueno-san in the hot springs had, unfortunately, been limited to glancing in her general direction a few times — and her gaze did stray, occasionally.

She spotted Ueno-san in an instant when she arrived at the lounge. The other two presidents were there, and Mihoko was glad to see the seat beside Ueno-san vacant.

"Good afternoon," Mihoko greeted.

Ueno-san gave her a small smile and Mihoko responded in kind.

Ryuumonbuchi-san gave her a dignified nod, while Kanbara-san laughed and gave a small wave as she drew closer.

"Takei here," Satomi gestured, "said you went to check up on Mukkii on your way. Thanks."

"It's no problem," Mihoko said as she inclined her head. "Amae-san was sleeping soundly as well," she said, addressing Ryuumonbuchi-san.

"Thank you," Touka murmured, uncrossing her arms.

Ryuumonbuchi-san seemed to relax into a more friendly and approachable position upon that brief interaction. Mihoko took her seat at the armchair.

"Now," Hisa began, "I'm sure we all know each other already, but why don't we do a brief self-introduction to start things off?" Everyone nodded or murmured their assent. "Okay then, I'll start — my name's Takei Hisa, and I'm a third-year from Kiyosumi in backwater Zushi. I haven't been participating in any mahjong tournaments for a couple years, but I'm excited to get back into it with my club. I'm looking forward to spending the next few days with you all."

Hisa inclined her head in Mihoko's direction.

"I'm Fukuji Mihoko, a third-year as well, captain of the Kazekoshi mahjong club. I've been dabbling and participating in mahjong tournaments and events since middle school, but I still have a lot to learn. I look forward to working with everyone."

Satomi ran a hand through her short hair. "Wahaha... I don't have any fancy or formal introduction, but I'm Kanbara Satomi from Tsuruga. I'm still the club prez if you're splitting hairs, but I'm getting past my prime, so I've passed the baton to a bright young upstart, future of tomorrow!" Satomi held her magnificent pose for a moment before sighing, "With that said, Mukkii's out for the count right now, so I'm standing in for my stand-in."

"First term's barely over," Hisa said mildly. "Are you sure it's not because you want to skip out on your duties, Kanbara Satomi-san?"

"Have I been found out?" she said with a wide grin. "You're half right, but the main reason is to let Mukkii get used to the role. I'd feel sorry pushing everything on her at once when both me and Yumi-chin are graduating, you know?"

Hisa gave a knowing grin to Satomi's response.

It was then Ryuumonbuchi-san's turn.

"As you all know, I'm Ryuumonbuchi Touka, from Ryuumonbuchi," Touka said imperiously. "In our club, we're all second-years, and while we didn't place in the nationals this year," she said with a frown in Ueno-san's direction, "we'll be back next year — with a vengeance. Now, what did you want to see us about, Kiyosumi?"

Hisa cleared her throat. "Well, since this is mahjong we're talking about, our training menus aren't about training stamina or strength like sports clubs, but rather how we adapt to different playing styles or how we play off them." Hisa slid several sheets of paper along the coffee table and gestured for the others to take a look. "With that in mind, here's a basic schedule of what we could do during our few days here. I tried to keep the schedule ambitious but within reason."

Mihoko took a copy of the schedule and looked through it as Ueno-san continued talking.

"There's time for leisure and relaxing in the schedule, of course, but if possible, I'd like to have a nice, early start each morning. What do you all think?"

"We're fine with waking up early for a few days," Satomi offered. "We got up at the crack of dawn to get to Yokohama in time for the qualifiers no problem."

"We did too," Hisa commented, "since the early trains come so infrequently."

"That's the thing with being from no-name schools," Satomi griped. "And while I'd rather spend my summer vacation mornings blissfully asleep, you gotta make some sacrifices for good ol' mahjong once in a while. Right, Ryuumonbuchi?" Satomi leaned into the armrest on her right and grinned at Touka.

"Naturally, some sacrifices are to be made for mahjong," Touka declared. "And while I'm all for an early start, it's impossible for Koromo," she said flatly. "She gets cranky if she's woken up before ten on a good day — assuming anyone other than Hagiyoshi can even wake her — but I don't think we should expect her until eleven or some time in the afternoon."

"Even if it's Amae Koromo, I don't think we can hold off everyone's training till then," Hisa frowned. "What do you say to letting her sleep in while the rest of you wake up a bit earlier? I'm sure we would all like to have a chance to play against Ryuumonbuchi."

"Yes, that's fine," Touka affirmed after a moment's consideration. "But could you keep the scheduled time discreet? Koromo will want to wake up early if she knows everyone else is going to be up."

"I understand. We can notify our club members in our own rooms," Hisa nodded to Satomi and Mihoko, "and you can let the rest of your members know in private."

"The silly girl doesn't play nearly as well when she's half-asleep either," Touka said with a wry half-smile.

"And what about you, Fukuji-san? A penny for your thoughts," Hisa said affably.

Mihoko slipped into her role as Kazekoshi's Captain easily. "We're fine with the start time as well, but perhaps we could fit in something extra at night after the scheduled times," Mihoko said, pointing to the timetable, "for the participants who don't sleep as early?"

"Oh, that's a good idea."

"I agree. I'm a bit of a night owl myself," Satomi chimed in.

"That's only if they still feel like playing after a full day of mahjong though," Mihoko added cautiously.

"No, I think it's great," Hisa said. "And it's not mandatory, so whoever feels up to it can join in. I think it'll work."

"Tomoki stays up till ungodly hours and needs little sleep," Touka interjected, "so you'll have her at the very least."

"Okay, great. I'll just make a note of it here." Hisa quickly pencilled in a note on her copy of the schedule. "Next on the agenda is who'll play who. If you look at the schedule, I've got blocks dedicated to scheduled matches and to unstructured matches. It might be a good idea to set up some matches pinpointing our members' weaknesses. So if we can draft up a schedule for now —"

"We'll be one short in the mornings with Koromo out."

"Not to worry. A special guest," Hisa looked at Mihoko and raised her eyebrows conspiratorially, "can fill in for her in the mornings. And I'm sure some people will be tired in the afternoons and evenings, and we won't have to keep all five tables running at once."

"Wahaha, you've really thought this out."

"Hey, it pays to be prepared," Hisa said cheerily.

It took around another hour and half before they ironed out all the details. Everyone had different ideas on who should play against whom, and some — were more vocal than others. In the end, they all agreed to Kanbara-san's suggestion that each club president would be in charge of drafting up potential opponents for their own members, while each of the presidents' opponents would be determined by the other three. Any personal preferences or desire for rematches could be resolved on their own time during the blocks for unstructured matches.

After that was agreed upon, they spent most of the time meshing the match-ups into complementary groups of four. Priority was given to interschool matches, given the logic that intramural matches were much easier to schedule outside of the training camp.

When all was said and done, to her it meant there were relatively few scheduled matches with Ueno-san. They were both considered powerhouse members — especially considering their respective rankings during the individuals — and thus were often split across the board to prevent power imbalances. The times they were scheduled together were largely limited to ones where four powerhouse players could be assembled together in a single match.

But that was okay; they could always schedule matches on their own. Ueno-san had clearly expressed interest in playing with her, which made asking a lot easier. And depending on whether she could manage to find two more opponents or not, asking Ueno-san to play at her house after the camp didn't seem too impossible or farfetched either. Zushi and Kamakura were fairly close to one another, so transportation wouldn't be a problem.

And she was fairly sure Kana would agree to come. The girl loved mahjong and loved the club so much — playing against Ueno-san would be a very good opportunity for her. It would go a long way in helping her in preparing for national-level play. Mihoko felt it regrettable that someone as promising as Kana had never had the chance to participate in the nationals.

She fell in stride with Ueno-san while the other two walked together a few paces ahead. Ryuumonbuchi-san was asking after Touyoko Momoko, probably because of how the vice-captain match had played out during the qualifier team tournament. The hands Ryuumonbuchi-san had dealt into were extremely uncharacteristic, given her cautious playing style. Mihoko made a note to herself to watch out for Tsuruga's Touyoko-san during matches.

Meanwhile, Mihoko thought brightly, she would enjoy her time with Ueno-san.


	10. Connections

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

This chapter has some mahjong in it, but it's not particularly mahjong-heavy.

As promised, the newbie-friendly 'mahjong crash course' post is now up and accessible from my homepage. I suggest you read it first if you don't know much about the game. There's the full version of the post, and a shortened, bare minimum version for lazy people as well.

Even lazier people, just keep reading.

((P.S. More knowledgeable people, please feel free to let me know about any mistakes in the mahjong, even though there isn't much game content this chapter.))

* * *

"_Oh, darling! Miss me?_"

"Ever... so much," Hisa said.

"_So aren't I getting my hello kiss?_"

"Not on your life," she said promptly. Hisa sat down in the empty Kiyosumi resting room and made herself comfortable. "So it went well, I take? You're being too giddy and silly to have make-ups."

"_Bingo. I'm a free woman!_"

"Don't you still have cram school?" teased Hisa.

"_Let's not worry about the little details, please."_

Hisa smiled into the receiver. "Should I call you careless or carefree, you think?"

"_Hey, don't act like you're any better,_" Miyuki prodded. "_You'd do the same_."

"Oh yeah?"

"_Yeah!_"

"Unfortunately for you, I'm going to be extremely productive the next few days. While you," Hisa smirked knowingly, "are going to bum around playing _Monster Hunter_ on your PSP."

Miyuki ignored the jibe. "_You, productive? As if."_

"Want me to call till you answer when I get up at six?"

They both knew she could make good on that threat. While she wasn't a morning person by nature, her sister had always found her annoyingly energetic in the mornings when they had to wake up early.

"_Well, let's see you do that when I come over._"

"In that case, I'd just wake you the good old fashioned way... or I could sic the little tyke on you."

"_That's playing dirty! No third parties allowed, no matter how cute they are._"

"Hey, all's fair in love and war — you'll accept it in lieu of that hello kiss, won't you?" _Oh yeah, paybacks._ "And you know she has undying loyalty to her Hii-nee-chan, so you can't bribe her into a counterattack on me."

"_Let's see how that undying loyalty holds up against candy._"

"While you do make a good point, you seem to have forgotten a minor detail — I wake up earlier than you. You just can't win, Miyu."

Miyuki growled, "_I'd hit you if I could..._"

"But you can't," Hisa grinned from the safety of the distance that separated them. She thumbed through the nationals data that Kajiki-san gave her earlier that day and shifted her cell phone. "So, have you started packing yet? Dad'll get on your case if you don't."

"_Don't remind me. He's already on my case._"

"You better pack properly this time and bring enough clothes, 'cause you're not wearing mine again," Hisa said unsympathetically.

"_Hey, it was an accident!_ _How was I supposed to know that red stains?_"

"And that is why," Hisa said solemnly, "little princesses who've never done the laundry should never mix their clothes with mine."

"_It's not my fault I don't..._"

"Yeah, I'm sure you're being forced _not_ to do chores."

"_You're nagging more than dad,_" muttered Miyuki. "_It wasn't on purpose anyway..."_

"What was that, you little punk? Do you even know how hard it is to remove red?"

"_It's over already, isn't it? And anyway! Nee-chan, have you made progress?_"

"With what?" Hisa narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the non sequitur and Miyu's sudden change in tone. She knew better than to think Miyu meant anything related to the training camp.

"_Your love life, of course_," she said brightly.

That. But of course. Miyu was bringing it up just to divert her attention and to gain the upper hand, she knew. It was an area she had few comebacks for, after all.

Still.

"You know it's only been a week since then," Hisa said drolly.

"_My goodness, are you suggesting _my_ flaming, skirt-chasing sister needs more than a week to snag a girl or two or three?_"

"If you weren't my _loveable_, oh-so-innocent kid sister —" Hisa began.

"_What? It's an all-girls training camp, isn't it?_" she said innocently. "_You can go __all __out._"

"— I'd smack you right about now."

—

Her throat was parched.

After the three-hour break ended, they gathered everyone together to update them on the new schedule and matches. Then they played game after game with variable time for breaks in between. Some matches finished up faster than others — like ones with players who specialised in winning off small, quick hands — while others took longer, whether because of four cautious, evenly matched players or because of stronger members maintaining their dealer position endlessly.

When she had extra time waiting for the other matches to finish up, she had, out of interest and out of a sense of duty as the Kiyosumi club president, covertly checked the ongoing games to see various player dynamics. If not that, she spent the time on after-game discussions at her own table by comparing tactics and trading advice with the other three players.

It was also probably the reason why she felt more tired than the others. By the time the scheduled matches came to an end, Mako, Nodoka, and Saki all still seemed fine, while Yuuki was as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as ever, talking feistily with Ryuumonbuchi's Inoue. Yuuki seemed to get along very well with Inoue Jun in her typical rambunctious way, while the taller girl was either surprisingly patient or surprisingly childish with Yuuki, responding in kind, much like Suga-kun's antics with Yuuki. Hisa couldn't tell which of the two categories Inoue fell under, but Ryuumonbuchi's members seemed, she decided, fairly interesting people in their own right.

And now, as she stifled a yawn, if she weren't so tired, she'd hit the hot springs again for a nice, long soak. Hisa fingered her hair for a bit, and decided getting her hair wet just before bed was probably a bad idea as well. She suppressed a small sigh at the thought of denying herself a trip to the hot springs, and decided to postpone it to a later time.

But what she really needed now was a refreshingly cold drink to quench her thirst. The fruit milk Yuuki got earlier didn't seem half bad, but with the way her throat was, she'd settle for anything cold. She jingled the coins in her hand as she continued walking down the corridor toward the vending machine.

As she rounded the corner, she saw Kajiki-san in front of the vending machine making a selection. The sight of her reminded Hisa of the nationals data she was given earlier. With the preparations and Miyu's phone call and everything else, she barely had any time to breathe, much less look through it in detail.

Seems like she'd have to change her selection from fruit milk to coffee, if the vending machine had any. Now that she was reminded of it, there was no way she could rest without looking at some of the game records first.

As she got closer, she called out in greeting. "Kajiki-san!"

Yumi turned at the voice. "Ah, Takei. It's you."

"Hey. Getting a drink?"

"Yeah." Yumi held up a can of juice. "You?"

"I'm dying of thirst — getting some nice, cold coffee." Hisa skipped over the water, tea, and juice sections to look over the selection of coffee drinks, and zeroed in on the Georgia Emerald Mountain Black. She glanced at the coins in Kajiki-san's hand and asked, "Are you still choosing, though?"

"Go ahead. I'm having trouble deciding."

"Alright. Thanks." She might've insisted on letting Kajiki-san go first another time, but she was too thirsty to care now. Hisa stuck three coins into the slot in succession and waited for the amount to register on the little red screen. She selected the coffee, and picked up her can from the dispensing slot at the bottom.

The can was deliciously cool against her palm, and she couldn't resist pressing the can against her face for a moment before cracking it open. And guzzling down its contents.

It earned her a chuckle from the girl in front of her.

"You weren't kidding about dying of thirst, I see."

Hisa stopped chugging down the coffee to take a breath and shook the can slightly from side to side. It was over two-thirds empty. "Sure wasn't. I'm wondering whether I should get another one." She sipped her coffee more slowly. "You buying for someone else? Or are you really thirsty too?"

"For someone else — Kanbara, actually. I think she was waiting for me to get a drink the whole time." Yumi quirked the corner of her mouth into a half-smile.

"Wish I'd done that too. What's being club president without a few perks?" Hisa asked astutely with a grin. "But what seems to be the problem? Didn't she tell you what she wanted?"

"She did, but..." Yumi arched her eyebrow. "I brought 240 yen, and this," she said holding up her juice, "cost me one thirty."

"You could get the water?"

"She said she was fine with anything but water." Yumi looked from her can to the vending machine again. "I don't mind drinking water and giving Kanbara the juice, but I was going to share with someone."

"That is a bit troublesome."

"I was wondering whether I should go back and get another ten when you came."

"Or," Hisa suggested, "you could take the ten from me." She held out a bronze coin.

"Now it sounds like I told you all that so you'd offer it to me," Yumi said a bit regretfully.

"From someone generous enough to give me the data she collected for the nationals? I don't think so." Hisa smiled. "Here, take it."

Yumi took the coin. "Thanks."

"No problem." Hisa finished the rest of her coffee and waited till Kajiki-san bought a second can of juice before she stuck a few more coins into the vending machine. A caffè latte this time, maybe? She didn't particularly feel like downing two cans of pure black coffee at night.

Yumi saw Hisa make her selection. "Aren't we starting at seven tomorrow? I heard from Kanbara."

"Yeah." Hisa picked up her coffee and cracked it open. "And I have to be up by six at the latest."

"Then why..."

"The nationals data you gave me," Hisa said with a grin. "I'll pull an all-nighter if I have to, but I do want to look through it."

"Have I unleashed a monster?"

"Maybe. Are you going to take responsibility for it?" Hisa took a large swallow of the caffè latte.

"I'd sponsor your coffee addiction, but as you know, I'm strapped for cash right now."

Hisa tapped her can thoughtfully. "You know, I have an even better idea."

"Yeah?"

"How about playing a game or two together tomorrow? I was planning on finding powerhouse players, and I got to say," Hisa said, "Tsuruga's team tournament captain intrigues me."

"Really?" Yumi said with a small laugh. "I heard she mostly has very orthodox play."

"You're right about the mostly." She faced Kajiki-san. "I checked your game records in the earlier rounds, and your moves were very orthodox then. But the chankan and chiitoi in the final game were something else entirely."

"While I'd like to say I'm just being modest, those really were lucky coincidences."

"Coincidences can be aided by little pushes in the right direction, don't you think?" Hisa said lightly. "And I had trouble figuring you out during the individuals, too."

Yumi maintained eye contact with Hisa for a moment before she closed her eyes. "Okay, you got me, I'm in. I'm interested in your playing style as well. I just hope I won't disappoint."

"Don't worry, it's bound to be a good game. I'll find you tomorrow night, if that's alright. Do you mind starting late?"

"No, I'm fine with that."

"Great."

"Well, I should get going," Yumi said. "My hands are a bit numb from holding these drinks. See you tomorrow?"

"Right, see you. Good night, Kajiki-san."

"Good night. Don't stay up too late." Yumi turned to leave but stopped after a few steps. "And one more thing —"

"Mm?"

"Call me Yumi, will you? It makes me feel like I shouldn't use casual if you call me 'Kajiki-san'."

Hisa smiled. "Alright, but only if you call me Hisa."

"Deal. Good night, Hisa."

"Good night, Yumi."

—

Hisa had noticed the inconsistency in Amae Koromo's mahjong from her various game records, which was especially apparent between her performance in the qualifiers and from the year before. Without a doubt, she was a national-level monster capable of dealing unspeakable damage, but the unaccounted for discrepancy had left her curious.

Hisa regarded Amae Koromo with interest. For a girl barely a year younger, she was inarguably childlike in nearly all respects. She looked no older than twelve, and her general mannerisms put her even further on the lower range.

And yet...

"We acknowledge your valour in challenging us, head of Kiyosumi," Koromo said with her arms crossed. "But the moon wanes at present, and lessens much of our power." She cast her eyes downward and gave a small frown. "We are not the same Koromo that your rinshan user faced a fortnight ago."

While Koromo sounded like she was either on a high horse or from another century entirely, Hisa felt a momentary rapport with the girl in front of her. Hisa failed to understand the reason behind it, but she was certain that Koromo's expression echoed the looks Acchan would occasionally give when she was afraid to disappoint.

She tried to stop herself comparing Amae Koromo to a three-year-old, but she couldn't shake the feeling. Reaching out, she patted her on the head lightly. "Hey, don't worry about it — we're all here to have fun, right?"

Koromo's expression softened and she peered up to ask, "Really?"

"You bet."

In preparation for the nationals, she did want to play against a top-form Amae Koromo, but it was fine this way. Disappointing a kid and hurting her feelings seemed a little too much.

She pet her again.

Koromo leaned into the touch for a moment before she caught herself. "Stop petting me!" she protested huffily. "I'm not a kid — I'm Koromo, you know!"

Hisa gave her hair one last ruffle before withdrawing her hand. "Sorry," Hisa said unconvincingly. "How old are you again? Are you sixteen or seveteen right now?"

"Sixteen and ten months old," she said with a bit of a sulk.

"Your birthday's in September, huh? I was born pretty late in the year too," Hisa said idly as she slid open the door and ushered Koromo in. She sneaked another pat to her head.

Hisa walked in last and greeted both Fukuji-san and Yumi quietly, as there were four others playing late. Since everyone was in their yukata, it felt suitably summery and training camp-like. The sleepiness and fatigue that had plagued her throughout the day — as she only got one hour of sleep — seemed to disappear in an instant. The thought of playing against such opponents energised her much more than any coffee could. Still, she bought another can of coffee earlier as insurance. It earned her a smile from Yumi, who tapped under her own eye briefly.

Most likely to indicate the growing dark circles under her eyes.

Hisa rubbed her eye bags briefly with the onset of another yawn. However energised she may be, the thought of dark circles and sleep deprivation could only cause more tear-inducing yawns. She inhaled and exhaled deeply to clear her head and took the last available seat, across Fukuji-san.

"Thanks for waiting," Hisa said as she saw the five face-down tiles. Everyone drew their tile without much formality, with Yumi drawing both east and the haku. She herself drew south. The three of them stood to exchange seats while Yumi stayed seated; Hisa picked up her coffee to take with her across the table. With the new seating arrangements, she still sat next to Yumi, only with her on the left now instead. Fukuji-san was on her right, while Koromo sat across. Only Fukuji-san would have to watch out for chis from Koromo. But luckily, out of them three, Fukuji-san was probably the most perceptive in reading discards.

And although Koromo had inconsistent performance, Hisa noticed that she rarely won in the first few hands. It would be a good chance to try and secure some points before Koromo hit them with her frightening play. Hisa hoped she'd get east or south to start off; a chance as dealer early on would allow her to deal to a decisive blow with quick and relatively cheap hands.

Yumi rolled a six and Hisa broke the wall in a fairly good mood. The odds for being dealer was a little better than one in four for her so it wasn't particularly exceptional, but with her odd brand of luck — or unluckiness, depending on how one looked at it — a start such as this was a good omen indeed.

Hisa then broke one stack of two from the wall on her right and flipped the dora indicator — a 5 wan. She ordered her tiles, and was pleased to note the two east tiles and the 6 wan in her hand. She had three or four of each suit, so she doubted she'd be able to go out on a really big hand. As long as she could protect her dealer position, even a trash hand or two didn't matter. But this hand was nothing to sneeze at — it'd be worth 7700 at least; she could feel it. A surge of adrenaline rushed through her as she discarded a north from her hand.

The game was on.


	11. Precarious

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

Mahjong for the first half of the chapter. Then... something special. Squee.

As always, follow along with my corresponding blog post if you're having trouble with the mahjong stuff. And again, please point out any possible mahjong errors if you spot them. It's much appreciated.

For those who don't know yet, a bit of an update - I've translated Track 1 of a Saki drama CD (featuring the Kiyosumi cast), as well as _Captain Half_, a Hakkaya HxM doujin. Both available on my site, now also adorned with a new header.

Onward we go.

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Mihoko straightened her thirteen tiles against the ledge and flipped them up. She ordered them by suit quickly, and glanced in Ueno-san's direction between turning a few of her tiles upright.

Ueno-san looked unduly tired.

Mihoko eyed the coffee at Ueno-san's side with a small frown. She was probably running on caffeine alone, and it was obvious that it wasn't just her first or even second can that day.

Mihoko exhaled and refocussed her attention back on the match and her own hand. Three green dragons, two norths, and a hand full of sou with four in sets of two. With only two wan tiles and one pin, cutting them to form a hon'itsu seemed like a reasonable course of action — but one of them was a 6 wan. It would be hard to cut a dora.

Ueno-san discarded the first tile and Mihoko made her decision.

"Pon!" she called decisively.

Mihoko slid her two norths along with Ueno-san's to her right, and discarded her 2 pin.

It was unorthodox to call so soon, and even odder to do so when it wasn't even for her own wind. But in exchange, she was closer to a quick open hand toitoi hon'itsu. It could easily switch to work in the dora tile if she drew a second one, with no damage to the value of her hand. To take the dealer position from Ueno-san, speed was of essence.

Amae-san and Kajiki-san both discarded irrelevant wind tiles, and Ueno-san bit back a yawn as she drew from the wall and discarded.

Mihoko drew hers and discarded the pin.

After several more go-arounds, her hand still hadn't yet come together fully. She called a pon from Kajiki-san for her 2 sou pair, but she mostly drew pin and wan tiles, with nothing near the 6 wan. Worse yet, she was fairly certain both Ueno-san and Amae-san were already in tenpai.

"Riichi!" Hisa declared as she smacked her tile sideways.

_My__, __my__._

Mihoko drew — the north at the worst possible time, no less — and there was no choice but to forgo the kan. Trading Ueno-san's potential ippatsu for an additional dora wasn't worth the risk, especially when she herself was still 1-shan-ten. She discarded the north and immediately felt herself come under Ueno-san's scrutiny for the choice she made. Her eyes conveyed much — not the least of which was a good-natured dig at her cautiousness.

Mihoko arched her brow ever so slightly in response, which only seemed to amuse Ueno-san to no end.

The two others drew and discarded without incidence, but Mihoko felt it even as Ueno-san extended her hand to draw —

"Tsumo!" Hisa slammed the 3 pin against the ledge. "Riichi ippatsu tsumo, dora 2 — 4,000 all!"

Mihoko turned her tiles face down. Counting out four 1,000 point sticks, she surveyed Ueno-san's hand. Ueno-san had gone with an edge wait on a tile with two already on the floor; although it wasn't quite a hell wait, it made her smile nevertheless. Here was someone who dared to play against the odds and managed to win time and time again.

In the next game, Mihoko's hand came together quickly, in part due to her starting hand being 3-shan-ten. It was a bit early, but she decided to pull her trump card as Ueno-san had a 16,000 lead on them all with the oyaman, and the gap would only widen if things continued the way they were. And then, she thought grimly, there was Amae-san.

The best case scenario would be a ron on either Ueno-san or Amae-san.

Mihoko opened her right eye to read her opponents' discards, and made her choice as she laid her trap. She set her wait to 2 and 5 wan as she declared riichi.

Two go-arounds later...

"Ron," Mihoko said politely as Ueno-san discarded the 5 wan. She flipped the ura-dora. "Riichi tan'yao pinfu, ura-dora 1, ipponba; 8,000 please."

"Good play there," Hisa said and handed the points over willingly.

Mihoko accepted the sticks and withdrew her hand to deposit the points. Ueno-san had to know she was gunning for her, but they were even now; with the ron, they both held 29,000 points.

They pushed the tiles in toward the middle and started the third game.

Mihoko ordered her fourteen tiles and discarded a west.

"Pon," a low voice called calmly.

Mihoko focussed her gaze on the girl opposite to her. In her original assessment, she considered Kajiki-san as the least threatening of her three opponents, but the girl had held her own in the final team tournament match. Moreover, Ueno-san chose Kajiki-san as one of her three opponents for this match. That had to count for something, even if she could somehow write off the stunts Kajiki-san pulled in the qualifiers as coincidences.

She mustn't let her guard down.

Mihoko scanned the few meagre discards on the floor and began her attempts in reading into them.

Then in the second go-around after she was 1-shan-ten, Kajiki-san won.

"Ron." Yumi exposed her hand with a clack. "Yakuhai only — 1,000."

Mihoko had dealt into the hidden tenpai. Reading Kajiki-san's discards had lead her to believe the girl was going for a hon'itsu that was still a bit away from tenpai, but against all reason, she had kept a 9 sou for the pair — and won with a low-value hand. Her actions made little sense, as she would've gotten 3,900 at least with a hon'itsu, and yet...

But because of that reasoning, she ended up dealing into Kajiki-san's hand, and consequently lost her dealer position. There was, she realised, a perverse pragmatism to Kajiki-san's strategy. What did a hand potentially worth 3,900 really mean if one couldn't actually win on it?

They began the third round.

Amae-san had lay low the last two games after Ueno-san's initial oyaman, but that changed as soon as she became dealer. As though she were waiting her chance and bidding her time, Amae-san struck quickly and swiftly with a haneman tsumo.

"East, round 3, ipponba," Koromo pronounced solemnly at the beginning of the next game.

Unlike the team tournament, there weren't that many points in reserve for any given player — a few high-value hands were more than enough to send someone's score below zero. The game might've ended much sooner if it weren't for the strategy they used.

In essence, they allied together for the duration of Amae-san's turn as dealer, by dealing tiles likely to be called on by each other — even Amae-san couldn't win if she had no turns to draw. Kajiki-san and Ueno-san to a lesser extent, were thus burdened with the tasks of calling pon.

Regardless, they ended the hanchan with no change in their relative standings. As there was only one round left after Amae-san's second turn as the dealer, it proved insufficient for anyone to make a comeback. In first place, Amae-san came out of the game a few thousand points ahead of Ueno-san, while Kajiki-san never quite recovered from the initial haneman.

"Good game, everyone," Hisa said as they pushed the rest of the mahjong tiles inward. "I know it's a bit late, but is anyone up for another hanchan, or maybe east-only?"

Mihoko spoke up first. "Ueno-san? Maybe we should postpone a rematch — I think Kajiki-san looks a bit tired."

Mihoko willed Kajiki-san to make eye contact with her. If she tried to convince Ueno-san to postpone the match due to her obvious fatigue, she'd probably wave it off. If only she could convey her intentions to Kajiki-san...

Their eyes met. Mihoko flitted her eyes to her left in Ueno-san's direction and casually touched under her own eye with the side of her finger. Thankfully, comprehension filled Kajiki-san's eyes almost instantly.

Yumi cleared her throat. "Actually, uh, I'm a bit tired."

"Yeah?" Hisa said.

"Y-Yeah."

"Well... there's no helping it then. But I'd really like a rematch with everyone — if no one's against it, how does tomorrow sound?"

"I don't mind," Koromo piped up.

"Tomorrow sounds good," Mihoko murmured. She directed a silent 'thank you' toward Kajiki-san.

"Tomorrow's good," Yumi said as she stood up. "And you better get yourself to bed soon, Hisa. You look like you could fall asleep standing. Good night, everyone."

"Good night, Tsuruga's taishou. Thanks for playing with Koromo again," Koromo said cheerfully.

Yumi gave a small nod and left.

Koromo watched Yumi leave before she faced Hisa and Mihoko, standing up herself. "Then I'm going too. See you tomorrow, Kiyosumi and Kazekoshi." She turned and skipped out of the room without further preamble. "Tomoki, Tomoki..."

Amae-san was still terribly energetic despite the hour.

"Only us left now, huh?" Hisa leaned her arms on the table ledge and propped her chin up with a hand. Stifling another yawn, she pondered out loud, "Wonder what's up with Yumi though."

"What about her?" Mihoko cursed herself for that oversight — Ueno-san was nothing short of perceptive.

"I'm pretty sure tiredness isn't the reason why she doesn't want to play a second game tonight, but..." Hisa rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Frankly, I don't know her well enough to push the issue."

Mihoko felt a bit of relief hearing the extent of Ueno-san's relationship with Kajiki-san, but put that titbit aside as she confessed, "Um, actually... Kajiki-san declined because of me."

"And what've you two been up to?"

"Well —"

Hisa leaned forward further, putting her head down in her arms. "Sorry, I need to rest my head a bit — kinda dizzy. But I'm listening."

Ueno-san really was carrying too many responsibilities.

"It's because I thought you shouldn't push yourself to play another game," Mihoko said mildly. "There's no denying you're tired right now."

"I'm not in much of a position to argue at the moment," Hisa mumbled into her arms. She turned her head to the side so she could see Mihoko. "I plead guilty as charged."

"And I was sure you'd insist on playing if I said you were tired."

"That does sound like something I'd do," Hisa said with a faint smile. "Sometimes I get into things more than I should... Feels like I need to surpass Amae Koromo if I want to fulfil my dream."

"I know what you mean," Mihoko said in understanding.

"Yeah," Hisa said. Her voice trailed off momentarily. She struggled to stay awake and added hazily in another mumble, "But, y'know, thanks... For worrying about me."

Mihoko gazed quietly at Ueno-san. Her paler-than-usual skin tone; the stray auburn bangs that moved with her slow, rhythmic breathing; eyelids heavy from drowsiness and fatigue...

"That's what friends are for," Mihoko murmured.

"Yeah... ..."

Ueno-san settled into sleep.

Mihoko stopped to watch her. Perhaps — perhaps this would be her only chance to see Ueno-san like this — completely unguarded, defenceless, and, as always, blissfully unaware of the feelings she held toward her.

She tried to etch the memory of Ueno-san deep into her mind as she followed the angle of her face, the slope of her nose — the gentle contour of her jawline, the slightly parted lips... and the hair that cascaded and splayed across her neck and shoulders with painful beauty...

Mihoko clutched her hand to her chest as the desire to touch and connect with Ueno-san overcame her.

Her hair —

It — it wouldn't hurt to touch her hair for a little bit, would it? Friends do that sort of thing, sometimes. It wasn't really crossing any lines —

In her mind, she continued to war with her conscience even as she slowly extended her hand.

Careful not to touch her forehead, Mihoko brushed a few stray bangs away from Ueno-san's face, and gently, lovingly, tucked the hair behind her ear. Her fingers grazed against Ueno-san's ear as she continued to run her fingers through the luxurious hair, lost in the feeling and sensation of the simple act.

"Ueno-san," she breathed. Her voice was barely audible even to her own ears. Her lips moved and formed the words, but no sound came out. "I like you so much, Ueno-san..."

Mihoko half-wished Ueno-san could hear her restrained, unspoken words; half-wished the distance between them could be traversed. She moved her hand and the knuckles of her fingers hovered ever so close to Ueno-san's now exposed cheek, so close that she could almost feel the warmth — so close that she felt Ueno-san's breath with each exhale.

A muffled thud sounded from the floor above, and Mihoko pulled her hand back guiltly.

Who was she kidding? Who would expect 'just a friend' to do what she just did now?

Mihoko sighed and sternly reproached herself. She observed the sleeping Ueno-san for another long moment before coming to a decision. Although she was loath to disturb Ueno-san's rest, it was impossible to let her sleep the night at the mahjong table, and in a thin yukata with the air conditioning on.

"Ueno-san... Ueno-san," Mihoko said gently.

She didn't respond.

Mihoko leaned in closer, and called her name again. "Ueno-san."

Hisa's brow wrinkled. She murmured some words unintelligibly before Mihoko could hear her say the next line. "Pon... that's... ... two han... "

Mihoko felt her heart flutter. How — Just how cute was it to daydream and think of mahjong even in her sleep?

She touched Ueno-san's arm and shook her lightly. "Ueno-san..."

Hisa lifted her head half an inch and paused before she rubbed her face groggily. "H-huh? Yeah? Um, sorry, I think I frithed — drifted off..."

"It's okay. But you really should get to bed," Mihoko said gently.

"Mm... bed. Good idea."

Mihoko thought she'd gotten through, but Ueno-san promptly buried her face back into her arms.

"Ueno-san... you can sleep back in your futon. You'll ache all over in the morning if you sleep here. With the air conditioning on, you might catch a cold too."

"Cooler temps..." Hisa mumbled, "... promote better sleep."

"I'm sure you're right, but..." Mihoko shook her arm again.

Hisa furrowed her brow and tried to turn away to get her much needed sleep.

It was surprisingly difficult to make her budge. Ueno-san seemed like a morning person, but because she'd also been losing sleep for at least two, three days, maybe more —

She'd carry Ueno-san back to the Kiyosumi resting room if she could, but it would be impossible with her strength. Mihoko shook her again. "Ueno-san... I don't want to wake you either, but —"

"... just five more minutes, Mihoko..."

"— please get up so —"

She froze.

She froze mid-motion.

Did Ueno-san just call her what she thought she did...? Surely...? But at the same time, it was hard to mishear her own name from Ueno-san's lips.

Mihoko hesitantly shook Ueno-san again experimentally, the original purpose of waking her long forgotten. But perhaps her shaking was more gentle than before in fear of waking her completely; Ueno-san would not repeat the same line but expressed her annoyance in being disturbed through unintelligible grumbles.

Mihoko sighed, and gave up in time. It was evidently doing neither herself nor Ueno-san a favour. With that decided, she shook Ueno-san again more insistently, now intent on waking her. "Ueno-san, please wake up, Ueno-san!"

"Mm...?"

Mihoko moved closer beside Ueno-san and led her into an upright position to help her reach a state of wakefulness, but her head lolled forward heavily. Mihoko tucked Ueno-san's head against her shoulder before shaking her lightly once more.

Mihoko spoke gently, "Ueno-san... if you'll get up, I can help you to your room. I'll clean up and put everything away, okay? Will you please stand?"

Hisa leaned inward and rested her head against the crook of Mihoko's neck. "Five minutes... I promise...?"

Mihoko wavered at the voice, at those words. She felt Ueno-san's steady breath against her skin, and each warm breath melted her resolve away further and further.

"Okay," she relented. "Only five minutes."

She tried to be stern, but only affection slipped through.

Mihoko repositioned herself slowly and guided Ueno-san to rest her head in her lap.

She had previously let Kana do the same any number of times, but with Ueno-san, it was different on innumerous levels and in endless ways. She felt Ueno-san's body heat through the fabric of their yukata, while the air was filled with the subtle scent of Ueno-san's mild, fruity body wash. For a moment, she was too hesitant to move at all — the fact Ueno-san was sleeping on her lap seemed too surreal to be true; it felt as though the first careless movement would shatter the illusion.

Mihoko pressed her hands together, cold from both nervousness and the air conditioning. Her fingers were stiff and numb. She pressed her hands to her neck to warm them up briefly before she gingerly rested her hand on Ueno-san's upper arm. For several moments, she had trouble deciding what to do with her other hand. Then with a deep breath and the effort to relax herself, Mihoko reached out to stroke Ueno-san's hair with tender affection.

In this way, she could almost imagine for the most fleeting of moments, that Ueno-san were her girlfriend.


	12. Belonging

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

It's been awhile, so there are a few updates — first, if you're interested in seeing how Miyu (and other OCs) look like, you can go here ( tiny. cc /ye6uw ). Second is my translation of _Buchou Musou_, a Hakkaya Ueno Hisa anthology, where Hisa's paired up with many different characters for cute short stories (of either a romantic or platonic nature), available at the usual place on my site. Third is only relevant if you're an Itou Shizuka fan — I've done some translations of interesting blog posts of hers.

And finally, "Falter" — happy belated birthday to Mihoko, and happy early birthday to Hisa, in case I don't update until after her birthday.

* * *

Her body was cosily warm, but her calves and feet were slightly chilly. She shifted to curl up and tuck her legs closer, while the glowing warmth concentrated in her upper body seemed to give the peaceful sensation of being enveloped within a loving cocoon. Strangely, one side felt warmer than the other, so she turned and snuggled closer to the source of heat. She grasped a fistful of pleasantly rough material in her hand, and murmured sleepily as she felt a soothing, rhythmic pressure on her head. A sense of tiredness remained somewhere in the far and distant reaches of her mind, but she felt herself slipping away from its grasp, gravitating instead toward the safe haven of what held her now.

She could stay like this, right here, in this moment forever.

—

Hisa began to wake as the wispy tendrils of sleep dissipated, clearing the fogginess of her mind. What struck her at first was her sleeping posture — she was resting on her side in an unfamiliar, uneven position. And her head was at a much steeper angle, as though the buckwheat hull pillow she'd used had risen several inches in height. Feeling somewhat disoriented, Hisa peered through her bangs to see grey fabric in front of her. It took her a few moments before the material registered in her head as a yukata.

Whose —

Whose lap was she in —?

Then the thought of Fukuji-san came unbidden into her mind, and she knew, even as Fukuji-san's soft voice permeated her brief contemplations.

"How are you feeling?"

"Mm, not too shabby," Hisa mumbled through a yawn. She turned to gaze upward, but the glaring lights above made her shield her eyes reflexively. "Agh... are those lights 200 watts or something?" she moaned.

Mihoko chuckled as she brushed Hisa's mussed hair. "You got me. I switched them out while you were asleep."

Hisa peered cautiously from under her arm. "You must be really something to manage that while acting as my pillow."

"You were dead to the world," Mihoko said affectionately, "so I'm sure I could've managed."

"Ah, shoot, was I asleep for long?" It hadn't yet occurred to her just how long she'd been sleeping in Fukuji-san's lap — nor could she recall how she even ended up sleeping on her. "I should get up before your legs —"

As she started to get up, she felt Mihoko's hand on her arm.

"I-It's all right — I don't mind, Ueno-san."

Hisa paused midway, unsure of Mihoko's response. It seemed like an odd thing to say while she was in the process of getting up. She hesitated and ventured a reply as she gestured vaguely. "Um, you sure?"

"Yeah," Mihoko said.

"Alright then —"

Hisa settled back into her previous position somewhat doubtfully, feeling slightly awkward now that she was deliberately lying down.

She'd only rested in someone's lap like this with Yuuko, before they'd been broken up.

The thought of her brought up faint nostalgia and — a ruefulness that had, like everything else, lessened with time. The covert contact they'd originally maintained since the incident had only grown sparser and sparser until it dwindled to nothingness; it had been hard and difficult to deal with for both of them, even without everything else. Perhaps forgetting was for the best.

She wondered how Yuuko was doing now.

"You're frowning," Mihoko murmured. "What are you thinking?"

Hisa broke out of her reverie. "Nothing much," she said. "But hey... you sure your legs are okay?"

"Really, I'm fine. And I thought I was the worrywart?"

Hisa tried to put some cheer in her voice. "Do you know how awful it feels being called a worrywart by the queen of worrywarts?"

Mihoko laughed, "I'm afraid I don't."

Hisa directed a well-aimed poke to Mihoko's side, and felt her squirm. "I'd watch it if I were you."

She received a ticklish poke in the ribs herself. "Likewise."

Hisa covered her eyes and mock groaned. "Okay, okay. Truce. Raincheck on the tickle fight? I'm too tired for one right now."

"All right. Do you want to head back? We'll be starting early tomorrow too."

With an arm still over her eyes, Hisa sought her target and gave Fukuji-san a light flick on her hand. "Make up your mind already. You were the one who got me to lie back down — I'm not budging."

"What a pushy buchou-san... might I have to reconsider the idea of transferring to Kiyosumi?"

"And you think I'd want a worrywart queen running my place?"

They giggled quietly, and it lifted her mood. Hisa grinned and peered over her arm when she got a playful flick back on her hand. Fukuji-san's hand rested lightly on hers, and though cold, Hisa welcomed the touch. It was hard not to notice how distant Fukuji-san was with her physically most of the time, compared to how she interacted with her regulars.

It was as though a wall were keeping them apart at a formal distance, despite how well they got on with one another. So it was reassuring to know she was opening up to her. Smiling at Fukuji-san, Hisa curled her fingers to give a little squeeze to Fukuji-san's hand, hoping she could convey how she felt with the gesture.

The look she got back from Fukuji-san was laden with similar emotion. They held each other's gaze for several heartbeats, and Hisa felt they had connected and reached an understanding on some level, where words would have surely fell short. Caught up in the moment, her heart began to pound as she continued to hold Fukuji-san's gaze, and the fleeting, but dreaded feeling of attraction to a straight friend surfaced briefly.

Hisa pushed the thought away — the alternative would only bring unnecessary complications that neither of them should have to go through. The feeling had probably only surfaced because Yuuko came to mind, and since Miyu had been spouting her usual nonsense earlier. Although Fukuji-san was attractive in many respects, it didn't mean she was necessarily attracted to her.

Hisa broke her gaze, and decided it was as good a time as any to sit back up. She pushed herself up and parted her mussed hair as she stalled for time.

"Hey, thanks..." Hisa began, "for letting me catch some sleep."

"It's no problem," Mihoko said with a small shake of her head.

"Still, thanks." Hisa looked away and patted the mahjong table. "I should clean up — and," Hisa drawled, "you sit right there. No helping."

Hisa furrowed her brow as she mulled over what she felt just then — she turned the discards face over row by row, and aligned them along the ledge at the corner closest to her. Then she moved onto the walls, moving them row by row. The whole process took less than two minutes.

"Okay, that's that." Hisa stood, and felt a slight wave of dizziness from her fatigue, but it wasn't particularly bad. She turned to Fukuji-san who was still on the floor. "Wanna head back?"

"Yes, but, um... my legs are asleep," she said sheepishly, knowing the reaction that would soon follow.

Hisa stood akimbo as she said, "And why didn't you tell me this before? Like when I'd woken up?"

"It didn't feel that bad then?"

Hisa knelt down to be at eye-level with Fukuji-san. "Sometimes..." she murmured with bewildered exasperation, "I just don't know what you're thinking."

Mihoko gave a chagrined look and could only offer a small smile.

Eyeing Fukuji-san sympathetically, Hisa asked softly, "At the pins and needles stage now?"

"Yes," Mihoko winced. "But I think I can move soon."

"Alright, I'm walking you back to your room when you're ready. Are there... any objections?" Hisa arched an eyebrow.

"Not at all," Mihoko smiled.

After several minutes, they slowly made their way back to the Kazekoshi room. They kept their voices low in the hallways, aware that many, if not most, were already asleep. Hisa made light conversation with Fukuji-san as they walked, too tired to engage in anything more strenuous.

When they reached the room, they stood outside by the shouji at a slight distance, mindful of the sleeping Kazekoshi regulars.

"Thanks for everything," Hisa whispered. "I'm kind of regretting the schedule I came up with, but make sure you get a good night's rest, alright?"

"You too, Ueno-san — you still look very tired."

"Gee, thanks," Hisa grinned. "Well, see you in the morning?"

Mihoko nodded. "And... please make sure you don't drink so much coffee."

"Alright, alright," Hisa said good-naturedly. "G'night?"

"Good night," Mihoko said.

Fukuji-san hesitated momentarily, as though she had more to say — before reluctantly turning to reach out for the shouji.

"... hey," Hisa found herself calling out on impulse.

Mihoko paused mid-action with her hand almost at the door, and looked at Hisa questioningly.

"Um, I just wanted you to know... I'd love to see them both again —" Hisa gestured lightly, "— outside of mahjong matches, like today."

A look of confusion visibly crossed Mihoko's face as she furrowed her brow. "You mean Kajiki-san and Amae-san...?"

"No, silly. I meant your eyes."

Finally understanding, Fukuji-san looked away and brought a hand to her eye, as though she were not aware it had been open until that point. Hisa stepped closer and tugged lightly at the sleeve of Fukuji-san's yukata, until Fukuji-san gave way and let her hand fall to her side.

"You don't usually hide something that someone just said they'd love to see again, you know."

"I — I guess not," Mihoko said haltingly.

"In any case, I do mean it. Your eyes are really beautiful," Hisa whispered.

A sudden, magnificent blush coloured Fukuji-san's cheeks, harkening back to their first meeting years ago. If it weren't for these eyes, Hisa thought, she may never have remembered their chance meeting at the tournament. Nor would she have connected the two, to realise the Kazekoshi mahjong captain and the girl she'd played against were one and the same.

And as her embarrassment abated, Fukuji-san began to laugh softly with tears in her eyes.

"It — It's like three years haven't passed at all," Mihoko said as she wiped her unspilt tears.

"I'm sure we'd have been friends sooner, if I'd continued the tournament," Hisa murmured gently as she wiped a tear from Fukuji-san's cheek with a knuckle.

"Or if you came to Kazekoshi —"

"That too," Hisa agreed. She pat Fukuji-san lightly on the head as the girl composed herself.

"But we're friends now — I'm really happy for that, Ueno-san." Sniffling slightly, she brought herself under control. "— I shouldn't get emotional like this —"

"Hey, it's alright," Hisa smiled. "We're friends, right?"

"Yeah —" Mihoko gave Hisa a small smile. "And as your friend, I've taken up enough of your time for one day. Let — let me say good night for real now."

"You can take up my time twenty-five hours a day if you want," Hisa grinned. "But I really should be heading off."

Mihoko nodded and held her hands to her chest as she said, "Good night, Ueno-san."

"Good night."

Mihoko smiled again as she dipped her head. She slid open the shouji and entered the room quietly, casting a last glance toward Hisa. They lingered, waving to each other lightly before Mihoko closed the door, and Hisa headed for her room.

Hisa padded toward the Kiyosumi room with thoughts of the events that had transpired between her and Fukuji-san. Though she was somewhat tired, it left her cheerful, light-hearted, and most of all — looking forward to the next day, and everything that it had to offer.

—

The next morning, she woke up groggily to the sound of her alarm. As she slapped the snooze button, she was thankful that the first-years were all still asleep. She'd prodded them about getting enough sleep to wake up bright and early — her own lethargy would reflect poorly on everything she'd been saying.

She dragged herself out of the futon, and into the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. She went through a mental checklist of the day's tasks. Amae Koromo and Fujita were waking up late, and there was the usual business with tacos, pork cutlet bowls and ordering more normal lunches for everyone else. With a mental groan at the errands she had to run, she groped for a towel to wipe her hands off.

Hisa ran her fingers through her hair quickly, trying to tame the bit of hair that always stood on end whenever she slept. She opened her small bag of toiletries, and began her daily routine.

—

She spent most of the morning coaching Bundou, Tsuyama, and Senoo on playing against less orthodox opponents, but ran into trouble trying to get them to move past their theory-oriented and probability-entrenched minds. Senoo, as a beginner, was more impressionable and open to explanations — but Hisa felt somewhat incompatible coaching someone who won with yakuman on a regular basis. In Senoo's case, it seemed like a basic grasp of orthodox play, rather, would benefit her more.

The time for a breather finally came during a lull in the late morning, about half an hour before one of the scheduled breaks between matches. Hisa looked all around the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of Fukuji-san, but to no avail. They'd managed a greeting or two when they first saw each other, but little more than that — it would be nice to spend some time with Fukuji-san, if she could.

Spotting one of the Kazekoshi regulars, Hisa ambled over, hoping the girl would be able to help her. Wishing she had Fukuji-san's capacity for remembering names, Hisa approached the girl wearing glasses and inquired politely.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to know where your captain is?"

"Ah... I think Captain said she was going to prepare some snacks, so perhaps you might find her in the shared kitchen?"

"I see, thank you. Now if you'll excuse me —"

Hisa hurried away in search of Fukuji-san, leaving the room before anyone else could notice her absence. It took her several minutes to locate the kitchen area — as she had subsisted on snacks they'd brought, the vending machines, and the meals ordered the last two days, she never had a reason to go there before.

She knew she was near when she heard the telltale sounds of a refrigerator door opening and closing; bowls clinking lightly against the counter; and the brisk, assured mixing of ingredients brought on by the tynes of a fork striking against a bowl.

Hisa peeked her head in to see an apron-clad Fukuji-san hard at work by the counter. To the side, half a tray of uniform-looking onigiri were arranged in neatly presented rows, while slices of bread were placed on her right on a wide plate. Hisa spent a moment just watching her prepare the snacks, fascinated by this very different side of Fukuji-san that she had not yet been privy to. Like watching Fukuji-san fumble with her cell phone that day at the student congress council room, Hisa felt as though she were seeing a part of Fukuji-san that the girl would not have shown so easily otherwise.

Fukuji-san hummed quietly to herself as she spread margarine onto slices of bread, sometimes pausing to count the slices she had prepared. When Fukuji-san closed the lid to the tub of margarine, Hisa cleared her throat and voiced a soft greeting.

"Hey."

Startled, Fukuji-san turned quickly with the small tub in hand.

"Ueno-san? What are you doing here?"

Hisa walked into the room, feeling somewhat out of place. "I was looking for you and didn't see you in the main room," she said, "and one of your regulars said I could find you here."

Mihoko placed the margarine in the fridge and wiped her hands off. "You must mean Yoshitome-san — I asked her to watch things for me while I was in the kitchen." Then her expression softened as she regarded Hisa. "Are you feeling okay this morning? You look really tense."

"Yeah — I'll live." After all, it was only going to last a day and a half longer, and she could catch some shut-eye on the bus home — as long as Yuuki wasn't going to be too boisterous. "But sorry though — I had to have two coffees this morning to get my engine running."

"You do look like you need it," Mihoko said considerately with a small smile. "What do you say we let it pass just this time?"

"Alright, deal." Hisa aded conspiratorially, "And I suppose we'll let it pass that you're making snacks instead of playing mahjong like you're supposed to right now, too, huh?"

"Will it help if I bribe you with either a tuna sandwich or onigiri?"

Hisa gave Mihoko a bright grin.

"Tuna sounds good."


	13. Unimagined

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

So as expected, I was late for Hisa's (and Itou Shizuka's) birthday.

Happy birthday to both of them just the same.

* * *

She set the onigiri aside and took the platter of sandwiches in her hands. There were only six bite-size pieces, eighths cut from one regular sandwich. Unable to find some of the condiments she needed, Mihoko had attempted a trial run without — but it was, she felt, with less than desirable results.

She'd cut the crust after lightly toasting the slices until they were a faint golden brown, with the insides still soft and moist. The filling was a mixture of finely diced cucumbers mixed with mashed tuna and a dash of salt and pepper, but the lack of mayonnaise and Dijon robbed it of the extra moisture and a mixture of tangy savouriness. To compensate for the dryness, Mihoko strained a portion of the tuna somewhat less thoroughly than usual, but it was far from the same.

Aware that Ueno-san was about to try her cooking for the first time, Mihoko wished she had more time to prepare, as well as the luxury of making something more elaborate from a more well-equipped kitchen at home. Even so, she was glad to offer the sandwiches with a smile, contented that Ueno-san had enjoyed and sought her company.

And seeing the neatly arranged mini sandwiches, looking for all the world like restaurant-worthy snacks or appetisers, Hisa picked one up and took a bite.

Ueno-san munched on it thoughtfully, and Mihoko waited for the official verdict from one whose opinion had come to mean more to her than anyone else's.

" — it's good." Hisa swallowed as she said with some surprise, "I mean, I knew it would be good, but... wow."

"Really?" Mihoko felt warm with pleasure but had her doubts at the same time. "I couldn't find the ingredients I wanted — doesn't it taste a bit off without the mayonnaise?"

"Mayo's good too," Hisa said as she took another bite, "but it's all soft but crispy together, you know? And the — the cucumbers, right? They really add to it. I like the light and fluffy ones from the convenience store, but this is really something."

She watched Ueno-san finish the sandwich, half wolfing it down and half trying to eat politely. Mihoko said with an amused smile, "Please, have as many as you'd like, Ueno-san."

"You sure?" Ueno-san perked up. "You've only got five left."

"I wasn't going to make more until I had mayonnaise," Mihoko said, "but if you like them this way I can make more right now. I've diced the rest of the cucumbers already, so it's just a matter of mixing everything together."

"Well, if you put it that way," she grinned, "I don't mind if I do."

"That didn't take much convincing, did it?" Mihoko teased, finding Ueno-san's behaviour endearing.

"I guess not," Ueno-san said charmingly, "but your sandwiches are pretty persuasive." She bit into her second one. "You know, this really would be heavenly with Kewpie. Do you want me to run down to the convenience store to grab a bottle?"

"Thank you for the offer, but Kana's probably on her way back with some as we speak."

"Ikeda Kana, right? The girl who adores you." Hisa put the last bite in her mouth, and walked over to the sink to brush the crumbs off her hands. "All your other regulars adore you, but her especially, I think. She really hangs on to your every word."

"Kana does often defer to my opinion," Mihoko said as she placed the platter down on the counter.

Hisa turned the tap on to wash her hands and grinned again. "Yeah, I'll bet. She's got an incurable case of what we call a 'Captain complex'."

"Ueno-san," she admonished lightly.

Ueno-san was only joking, but Mihoko knew Kana's devotion toward her was in all likelihood due to her family situation. With both her parents often working late, Kana had to shoulder a lot of the responsibilities of caring for her three little sisters — a heavy burden for a young girl. So it wasn't that surprising Kana looked up to her as both Captain and a sister-like figure.

"Aren't I right? She follows you around everywhere." Then Hisa patted her hands dry with a dishtowel, and leaned back against the counter. "But honestly, I'm a bit jealous."

"Of what?" Mihoko asked as her heart sped up a little, despite knowing it couldn't be the type of jealousy her mind yearned to interpret it as.

"You're really close with her, right? She's the only one I've seen you on a first-name basis with."

"I... guess," Mihoko said slowly, thinking. She had never really considered the closeness of her general existing relationships based on what she called others, since she addressed everyone in the same manner. And she couldn't recall in recent memory wanting to be on a first-name basis with anyone — Ueno-san being the only exception. Even with Kana, it had taken many reminders and prompting — in addition to a direct request on the girl's part — before she switched from 'Ikeda-san' to calling her by her given name.

Mihoko's heart fell a bit at this realisation; the last time she initiated calling anyone by their given name was, at best, sometime during the first few years of primary school. She closed her eye a little more tightly at the thought.

Hisa continued, lightly scuffing her slipper against the floor. "At first I thought maybe it was because Ikeda's younger, but you address other younger kids formally too. Did you know her from way back or something?"

"No... Just since Kazekoshi last year."

"I see," Hisa said after a moment.

"Um... Ueno-san?" Mihoko asked hesitantly.

"Mm?"

"Do you — Would — um," she gestured clumsily, "what I mean — is... is that why you called me 'Mihoko' last night...?"

She trailed off, suddenly developing a very keen interest in a smudge on her apron.

"Oh... uh, did I?" Hisa scratched her cheek. "Well, I — would you mind a lot, if I did now?"

"No — no, not at all." Mihoko wondered if they were really having the conversation she thought they were having. She glanced at Ueno-san, and was surprised to see her look somewhat off-balanced, a bit different from the usual Ueno-san she knew. Not exactly embarrassed, but maybe a bit... less collected than usual. It made her feel less awkward knowing she wasn't the only one feeling this way. "Rather than minding, I... I would be very glad."

"Really?"

She nodded quietly but firmly.

"In that case," Hisa said, "do you think... I could ask the same of you, Mihoko?"

"Y-Yeah," she stammered out automatically, as a mixture of pleasure and self-consciousness vied for dominance in her mind at hearing her name from Ueno-san. A part of her wanted to burrow her face in Ueno-san's shoulders to hide her embarrassment, to feel Ueno-san's comforting warmth, to make sense of emotions she no longer felt she understood —

And another part of her was keenly aware of, without a doubt, how it was increasingly difficult to pull herself away, or to remind herself of reality the closer they grew. The closer they were the closer she wanted to be; the more precarious the situation ended up, the more reckless she dared to be. Mihoko didn't know how she would bear the pain nor the joy of this imagined intimacy.

"Mihoko?"

"Y-Yes?" she said with a visible start.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes, I'm — I'm fine."

"Then," Hisa smiled lightly, "would it be safe to assume that your face is getting two shades redder every time... because I'm saying your name?"

"U-Um..."

Hisa paused, as if she were engaged in deliberation — then slowly leaned in, and brought her lips close to whisper in her ear. "Mihoko," she breathed.

— if she previously had any doubt whether Ueno-san were teasing her intentionally or not, all such reservations were dispelled in an instant.

Hearing the timbre of Ueno-san's voice so intimately close sent shivers through her body — while the warmth of Ueno-san's breath against her ear and neck sent a multitude of emotions washing over her — emotions, she knew, that were enormously amplified by the fact Ueno-san was consciously alert of every action she took now, unlike the night before.

"I take that back," Hisa said cheerfully as she stood back up. "Make that ten shades redder."

"U — Uh —" Mihoko sputtered as she looked at Ueno-san with a sense of disbelief that had barely even begun to register in her mind.

Ueno-san spoke with a kind smile and mirthful mischievousness. "Sorry... I couldn't resist."

"I-It's all right," Mihoko managed out. But it was not all right; her heart felt like it would burst from overexertion at any moment.

Was there any way to barricade herself against unexpected moments like these — ? But even if she had the means, she doubted her will. At this point — she would be fine as long as Ueno-san didn't tease other girls the same, even if similarly innocently.

"So... teasing aside, do you think you could, you know —" Hisa began meaningfully.

"Pardon?"

Her mind was still disoriented, her thoughts still scattered — figuring out what to reply with in a timely manner was taxing enough — following the conversation in its entirety was beyond her ability at the moment.

"Are you getting back at me for teasing you?" Ueno-san laughed as her cheeks darkened with the faintest possible shade of pink. "I mean, could you say mine, too?"

"... oh." Mihoko averted her gaze as her embarrassment return in full force. "Um... ..."

"Pretty please?" Hisa said lightly.

Mihoko nodded her consent hesitantly, and quietly cleared her throat. "Um... H — H — Hisa... san?"

She peeked at Ueno-san with her eye to gauge her reaction, and was gratified to see the wide smile on Ueno-san's face.

"I barely even heard you, but —" Hisa grinned. "But — you've just put me in a very good mood. Do you think I could get you to say it one more time?"

Mihoko furrowed her brow as she complied, her voice a fraction louder than before. "H-Hisa-san..."

"Or maybe twice or thrice... or a gazillion times..." Hisa suggested, "I wouldn't mind at all."

"U-Ueno-san...!"

"I'll take that as a no," Hisa said as she grinned again.

"O-Only because you keep teasing me," Mihoko mumbled.

"Does that mean you'll call me Hisa all the time if I stop teasing you?"

"N-No... and you're teasing me again already."

"Hm, good point."

Mihoko gazed at Ueno-san, marvelling at the affection she felt toward her — and thought of the two magnetic cell phone charms carefully and separately wrapped, packed deep in her duffel bag between her garments. She wanted to give the charm to Ueno-san as soon as possible now, even though she had originally planned on leaving it till the day after, at the very end of the training camp.

A few days ago she wasn't sure she would've been able to muster the courage. Even with the guise of presenting it as a thank-you gift, even with the resolution toward feigning ignorance should Ueno-san know the charms were especially popular amongst couples — couples who liked to adorn their respective cell phones with a charm each, and let the little peaches kiss when brought together —

But bolstered by the feelings she felt, she blindly took the plunge.

"... Ueno-san?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something I want to, um, show — no, to give you." Mihoko stumbled over her words, but forged onward. "I — I don't have it with me right now, but... maybe, tonight, sometime after dinner — before the rematch with Amae-san and Kajiki-san — ? I know you're tired, but it won't take much of —"

"Sure," Hisa said warmly.

"— your time, so —" Mihoko paused, flustered. "Um. Okay."

"Then that's something else for me to look forward to tonight," Hisa said amiably. "After tonight's rematch, who knows when all four of us will get the chance to meet up again?"

"At least we'll still have online mahjong," Mihoko offered.

Mihoko chastised herself — how unsubtle could she get?

"True. But hey, I have an even better idea," Hisa said. "Since my kid sister's coming over soon, the three of us could play in person instead. I haven't thought through the details yet, but are you in?" Hisa asked more or less out of formality, already knowing the answer.

"A chance to play against someone who you say is better than you? I wouldn't miss it for the world," Mihoko smiled.

"Hey hey hey, _was_ better than me," Hisa emphasised.

"We'll see," Mihoko said playfully, even though in her mind there was no contest as to who was better, in every sense of the word.

"Oh?" Hisa grinned. "We can settle this tonight when I —"

"— Captain, I'm sorry for the wait! I've bought the Kewpie Half like you a— … oh."

Hisa turned her gaze to the entryway, and faced a rather flushed and out-of-breath Kana. "Oh, hey, Ikeda," she greeted.

"— W-What are you doing here?" Kana demanded, with hackles raised.

"Kana..." Mihoko moved forward a fraction toward the girl. Why was Kana acting so prickly all of a sudden, when she was usually always so friendly and respectful? She only hoped it wasn't because of any unnecessary conflict with Ryuumonbuchi's members on Kana's way out to the store; she knew how much Kana blamed herself for their two losses at the qualifiers.

Kana's posture relaxed a little as she reined in her displeasure. She asked with a small scowl, "Why are you here? … Kiyosumi's buchou."

"Well, it's the shared kitchen, isn't it?" Hisa asked reasonably. "Why shouldn't I be?"

"Y-Yeah, but...! You know what I mean!"

"I don't think I do, actually," Hisa said with a grin, toying with Kana a little.

Mihoko glanced surreptitiously between Ueno-san and Kana; though uncertain of its origin, she could clearly sense the growing tension.

"But since you've bought the Kewpie, I guess I might as well tell you — I'm here to fraternise with your talented and beautiful Captain," Hisa grinned. "To, you know, come up with signals and sneaky, underhanded strategies to beat the competition in our next matches."

"Ueno-san —" Mihoko couldn't understand why Ueno-san was baiting Kana into responding — Ueno-san wasn't taking offence to Kana's attitude, that much was clear, but —

Why tease Kana so much when they barely knew each other?

She glanced at Kana, who looked ready to burst from indignation. "Kana, Ueno-san's only teasing about the mahjong, she doesn't mean it —"

"... I know that," Kana said, bristling at the sight of Hisa. She conceded reluctantly, "If she really were doing something like that, you wouldn't think so highly of her."

"Then why...?"

Kana turned to Mihoko. "It — It's because she —"

Mihoko gazed at Kana encouragingly.

"… it's — it's nothing, Captain."

Hisa grinned a little in Kana's direction. "... well, I can't say it hasn't been fun, but it's about time I got back." She turned to Mihoko. "And you're planning on finishing the sandwiches for the break, I'm guessing? You've got the onigiri done."

Mihoko nodded, though she'd completely forgotten about the sandwiches with everything that had been going on.

"I'd offer to help, but I think I'd just get in the way of your professional chef-like creations." Hisa smiled, "I can't wait to try your Kewpie tuna sandwiches, though. Is there anything I can get you before I leave?"

"No, I'll be fine," Mihoko smiled in return. "Kana's used to helping around and she knows where I packed everything — you should head back now."

"Alright. I'll see you in a bit then," Hisa said. "You too, Ikeda."

"See you," Kana muttered.

"See you later, Ueno-san," Mihoko said softly.

They traded one last glance before Ueno-san left and turned down the hallway. For a moment, she wished again she were impulsive enough — enough to forget about the camp, the sandwiches, and everything else in between — and invite Ueno-san to spend the day with her, just walking around and enjoying one another's company.

"Captain?"

Startled out of her wishful and irresponsible fantasy, Mihoko turned to face Kana, and stroked the girl's hair.

"Thank you for running down to the store, Kana."

"Ehehehe... it's no problem at all."

"Did the nearby convenience store have any? You look so out of breath."

"I had to go to another one — but it wasn't far at all!" she said hastily.

Mihoko saw Kana's sweated brow, with short bangs plastered to her forehead. She brushed and tidied Kana's hair, pressing the back of her hand against Kana's cheek. It felt hot to the touch, and was pink and flushed from obvious exertion.

"I'm sure anyone else would've thought it were far," she said affectionately. "And I thought you would be thirsty by the time you got back, so..." Mihoko left Kana's side to get the cup of water she placed in the freezer earlier to let it cool quickly. "Here, be careful, it's quite full."

Kana accepted the cup gratefully. "Thank you, Captain."

Kana pressed the side of the cup to her cheek, and sighed contentedly. Pressing both hands firmly against the cup to cool herself further, Kana began to down the water in large gulps.

"Now, don't drink so quickly."

Kana slowed down slightly, still finishing the water in record time. Happily, she took the cup to the sink to rinse it off, splashing the cold water against her arms and on her face, relishing in the cool relief.

Kana placed the cup on the rack and patted her arms with a towel just till they'd stop dripping wet, and dabbed at her cheeks with her arm, swiping across her face. She beamed at Mihoko.

"Looks like you're feeling better now," Mihoko said kindly. "I was worried something had happened to you earlier when you were like that with Ueno-san — are you all right?"

Kana said abashedly, "I'm sorry for making you worry, Captain. I — I'm alright."

"Don't take Ueno-san's teasing too seriously — she doesn't mean anything by it. She's actually very nice. I'm sure you'll like her once you get to know her."

"I... I just don't like how familiar she's acting with you," Kana mumbled.

Mihoko smiled. "I know what you're worried about, but it's okay — Ueno-san's not trying to be rude to me or to our club. But it would mean a lot to me if you could try to get along with her."

Kana nodded mutely. "I — I'll try, Captain."


	14. Revelation

**PLEASE HEAD OVER TO THE "Falter" REMAKE INSTEAD.**

I've been majorly distracted by Hisa's second round centrefield match at the nationals, amongst other things. Check out Saki chapters 76 - 78 on my site for my translations, if interested. Oh, and my version of _Usagi ni wa Tokubetsu na Koto_ is there as well. (See, I haven't been _just_ slacking off... I spent my time very productively.)

And a bit random, but Itou Shizuka's second album's going to be out on February 23rd. Squee!

* * *

Hisa bit into another skewer of chicken karaage, now cool enough without needing to blow on it between every bite. She munched on it, enjoying the crunchy exterior as she took another sip of cheap tea. The blandness of the tea was precisely what one would expect from a hot tea dispenser, but still preferable to the alternatives — it was either the money-sucking vending machines again, or mooching soft drinks from that tall lanky girl, Inoue, from Ryuumonbuchi.

She glanced at Yuuki a table down. The last few days, Yuuki had been getting really chummy with Inoue despite their continued rivalry, developing an unlikely friendship with Amae Koromo along the way, and perhaps somewhat less surprisingly, with Ikeda Kana as well.

Hisa observed with mild interest as Yuuki and Ikeda began to, rather vocally, fight over a skewer of what had to be tako karaage. Although she couldn't clearly see the dish in question, she had a feeling the two were fighting over a piece where there was sure to have been enough to go around. Yuuki was crazy about the stuff, but tako karaage had to be less in demand than the shrimp or chicken ones, for one.

As their fight for possession of that one piece escalated, Hisa came to the conclusion that the two were very similar types of people who expressed their personalities in different ways. Perhaps it was best summed up by the difference in how they acted around their crushes — Yuuki was brash, antagonistic, and in-your-face where Ikeda was protective and loudly supportive, despite both being forthright girls with a heavy streak of impulsivity.

Though, as Hisa took a bite from her aubergine karaage, it may be due to their standing and relationship with their respective crushes more than anything else. After all, with Yuuki, you could say she was being provoked constantly — and Ikeda was just as rough and brash when she'd been provoked over something where Fukuji-san was concerned.

And though Hisa wasn't quite sure why she'd gone out of her way to aggravate Ikeda earlier, she felt a bit like she'd overdone things. Having witnessed Ikeda's outburst and Fukuji-san's subsequent response, it became fairly obvious how things stood between the two. She was quite confident Ikeda's affections toward — ... Mihoko, seemed to run much more deeply than just hero worship, but that it also suffered a fate arguably worse than outright rejection — as Mihoko seemed to be blithely unaware of those feelings, despite how obvious Ikeda was.

But then again, maybe Ikeda herself was just as unaware of those feelings as her crush. It seemed possible, with her personality. Hisa eyed Ikeda, now proudly presenting a mangled piece of tako karaage to Mihoko, and she smiled inwardly. To think that Ikeda of all people were to be a fellow comrade in arms... Not that she wasn't a nice kid in her own right, but why couldn't it have been someone else with more potential, like Mihoko instead?

Hisa turned her attention back to her plate, swishing a piece of cabbage in the dipping sauce before drizzling it over the rest of her veggies. It amused her briefly to imagine Ikeda as a potential girlfriend. Sparks would surely fly between them, though probably not the kind conducive to any kind of romantic relationship; there was no love lost between them, that's for sure. Ikeda probably considered her a threat to the time she could monopolise from Mihoko, and Hisa frowned at the thought. Mihoko wasn't someone who socialised with others a whole lot to begin with — it seemed a little childish of Ikeda to want to stop Mihoko from making other friends.

But rather than considering that kid's personality or unpromising love life, there were more pressing, personally relevant matters for her to worry about. The nationals continued to loom overhead, and, as Ryuumonbuchi and Mihoko both agreed, Eisui and Shiraitodai would be two difficult hurdles they'd have to cross. But before that, there was still Amae Koromo, and the rematch she had been waiting for. And even before that, there was Mihoko, and the mystery of what she wanted to give her.

Just thinking about Mihoko made her break out into a grin. Hisa covered her mouth with the back of her hand to hide her smile, as she reminisced over Mihoko's embarrassment just by hearing her own name that morning. Aside from leaning in to whisper into Mihoko's ear, it was really too adorable how flustered she had gotten over something so simple.

Not that, really, she was one to talk. Since she too had felt self-conscious when Mihoko called her 'Hisa-san'... The form of address sounded cute, and despite the formality, perhaps even intimate, considering it was from Mihoko. It was too bad that Mihoko reverted back to 'Ueno-san' so quickly, as much as she had gotten used to hearing her old name. With how reserved Mihoko was, it seemed unlikely she would call her by her given name again without at least a bit of nudging.

And then, there was the unforeseen added bonus of annoying that Ikeda with the fact they were on a first-name basis — she could only imagine the look on the kid's face if she heard them calling each other 'Mihoko' and 'Hisa-san'... And maybe, it'd even spur Ikeda into confessing. Mihoko didn't seem to give off homophobic vibes, but then, you could never be too sure. If the chance was right, maybe she could test the waters for the kid, just as a gift or show of comradeship, their differences not withstanding.

Then Hisa breathed in and stretched, looking up from her plate and making eye contact with Mako sitting opposite her. She flashed her a grin, but Mako only shook her head slightly, likely already presuming whatever in her mind could only be another zany, half-baked scheme.

Mako simply knew her all too well.

After the karaage dinner, Hisa noticed Mihoko loitering in the dining room listlessly and uncharacteristically, occasionally gazing in her direction, then looking away almost as soon as eye contact was established. Sensing her request as clearly as if it had been spoken out loud, Hisa made a show of getting her first-years to help clean up. Nodoka readily complied, and a chain of volunteers followed — Saki first, and Yuuki second, grumbling happily along the way. Amae Koromo followed her newfound friends' lead, and the rest of Ryuumonbuchi naturally stayed behind to help as well, along with a few students from both Tsuruga and Kazekoshi, unwilling to make the two schools do all the work.

Having successfully directed mostly everyone's attention to cleaning up, it was all but guaranteed that it'd take much longer than if two or three people had done the task instead, as it would now be interspersed with friendly chatter and other worldly distractions. The last remaining obstacle was Ikeda, who was, as Hisa marvelled, diverted by Mihoko rather quickly and effortlessly. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Mihoko had got the kid wrapped around her finger.

Mako then gave her another look, probably sensing something was up, to which Hisa responded with a small smile and flippant wave of her hand. It probably wasn't anywhere enough to assuage any concerns Mako might've had, but she slipped away regardless, leaving the room quietly and waited for Mihoko in the hallway. The lengths she and Mihoko were going to for this meeting made it almost feel like a tryst, and she smiled, recalling having done something very similar with Yuuko during breaks at school to slip away from their respective circles of friends. And it further piqued her interest — what sort of thing would require such secrecy, and necessitate a private one-on-one meeting?

Mihoko slipped out of the room a few moments later, offering a small smile and suggesting they move further away from the dining room. Hisa complied and followed, keeping her curiosity in check. They entered an unoccupied room, and Mihoko slid the door close behind her, taking in a deep breath and exhaling audibly.

More than just reserved, Mihoko seemed much more nervous than usual — she was gazing down at her hands hesitantly, barely making eye contact now that they were alone together. Hisa smiled lightly, feeling as though it had been much longer than one short week ago where Mihoko acted like this, so very distant and shy —

— and for a moment, nothing seemed to give the picture of vulnerability as much as Mihoko did, then.

Hisa closed her hand reflexively, pushing away the small whim to ease Mihoko's nerves by brushing her soft blonde bangs back or to cup her cheek. It would only embarrass Mihoko and increase her discomfort, Hisa decided. As much as she loved teasing Mihoko, she couldn't bring herself to, at this moment.

Instead, Hisa murmured fondly, "Mihoko?"

The person in question raised her gaze, eyes flickering to and fro.

"... U-Ueno-san, I..."

Hisa's breath caught, fascinated by the complementary blue and rosewood red of her eyes — and by the delicate blush that coloured Mihoko's cheeks entirely.

… really, why couldn't it have been Mihoko instead of Ikeda?

They remained like that, probably for several seconds longer than appropriate, before Hisa reluctantly spoke up.

"... what is it?" Hisa asked softly. Her voice echoed oddly in her own ears.

"I — I wanted... wanted to thank you for organising this camp for everyone," Mihoko said quietly. "— I think... it's... it's made — everyone... very happy."

"O-Oh, is that it?" Hisa stalled, but she couldn't help but feel a bit let down by the turn of events. What was she expecting, really? A love confession or two —? And it wasn't like she had a thing for Mihoko, really —

"Y-Yeah —"

"Well, you all helped out a lot, so it's not like I did it singlehandedly, you know?"

"Still," Mihoko said. She hesitantly took out a small, delicately wrapped gift from inside her yukata.

"You shouldn't have," Hisa protested.

"It really isn't much — please accept it, Ueno-san." She emphasised her words by holding the present out slightly further.

"Well... um, alright." Hisa took the small gift and heard a muffled clink as she grasped it in her hands. Directing a small smile toward Mihoko, she asked, "Can I open it?"

Mihoko nodded.

Hisa picked at the corner of a piece of tape and took it off, opening her present with care. The wrapping paper was a shade of dark grey, with cute little Monokuro Boo all over. Hisa opened the pouch up along the top, and pulled her present out with its pink braided strap.

It was a colourful cell phone strap with a cute little charm at its end; upon further inspection, Hisa noticed the little leaves on its bottom, realising the trinket had to be one of a peach. A small white flower decorated the little peach's forehead, and Hisa brought it up close, tapping its cute peachy cheek.

"It's really cute, Mihoko." Hisa looked up. "Thanks."

"I — I'm glad you like it," she said, relieved.

"I'll put it on my cell phone as soon as I get back to my room," Hisa promised.

"There's no rush to it..."

"It's too cute not to, though, don't you think?" Hisa said, smiling. She shook the charm by its strap slightly. It felt off balance and heavy for its size. Hisa looked it over again curiously — was there something more to it?

"A-Anyway —!" Mihoko said suddenly. "Um, I'm really looking forward to," she finished lamely, "... tonight's match..."

Hisa looked up from her observation of the charm and slipped it back into its pouch. "Oh, me too. I promise I won't fall asleep on you tonight, though," Hisa said with a little grin.

Mihoko nodded mutely.

"So, how did you like dinner today? I noticed Ikeda fighting over some tako for you."

"Dinner was wonderful — I think everyone really enjoyed it." Mihoko paused. "But — well, I rebuked Kana about her behaviour at dinner today — I'm sorry she was like that this morning too," Mihoko said apologetically. "I think she's a bit riled up from the excitement of the camp..."

"It's alright. And I should apologise on Yuuki's behalf as well. … but you know," Hisa fingered her gift, "let's forget about them for a bit. You still owe me something, don't you?"

Mihoko looked at Hisa. "You mean...?"

"I mean, I've been calling you 'Mihoko' the whole night, but it seems like you're still calling me 'Ueno-san'," Hisa said with a smile as she leaned in slightly.

"Um..."

"Though," Hisa said softly, "maybe I should let you off the hook just this time...?" She turned her gaze and gestured lightly to Mihoko's open right eye, now widening with surprise.

Hisa's heart thumped at the closeness and with the exhilarating thrill of flirtation before she realised what she was doing.

Then she pulled back —

What the _hell_ was that supposed to be?

Mihoko was going to think she was some kind of weirdo if she kept that up — she was lucky she even had her personality to fall back on as an excuse.

Hisa willed herself to remain a rational, sane being.

"... U-Ueno-san...?" Mihoko asked with a furrowed brow, "Is something the matter...?"

Now, if only Mihoko would stop being so cute.

—

Hisa was sure that someone would very soon realise that they were gone. That was the trouble with heading their respective clubs, and perhaps just as third-years in general. Coupled with Mihoko's tendency to help everyone out, their simultaneous and unnatural disappearances would soon be questioned — by Ikeda at the very least, if not anyone else.

But it wasn't like they were doing anything they shouldn't be doing. She'd sat Mihoko down, brushed off her inquiries over whether anything was wrong, and asked the somewhat bewildered girl to talk with her. About baking and cooking, about anything. It would've been nice to iron out the details of their suggested match with Miyu, but she had an urge to get to know the Mihoko that she'd gotten a glimpse of, when she peeked in on her making the sandwiches.

There was surely much, much more —

Mihoko spoke with reservation at first, but Hisa encouraged her, and soon, she was talking animatedly about her elder brother, Fukuji Takashi; how she'd make desserts to sate his sweet tooth; how she'd cook for the family occasionally on the weekends; how she'd make batches of baked goods for everyone in her club —

Hisa cupped her cheeks with her hands as she listened. Why didn't she ever notice the gentle, euphonious quality of Mihoko's voice before? The way her cheeks flushed with interest and excitement when she talked about what she loved? Or her soft, delicate hands, or the way she gestured lightly as she spoke?

Mihoko, she realised, was very beautiful. Both she and Yuuko could be called the soft-spoken type, but Mihoko had something warm, inviting, and supportive about her that put people at ease. Maybe it was that part of her personality that led her to spend so much time with second-years and first-years, perhaps? She couldn't remember seeing Mihoko really interacting with any third-years apart from with her.

Then Hisa gazed at Mihoko — her nose, her rosy cheeks, her delicate eyelashes, her bangs framing her face — and at her lips.

She wondered how it would feel to kiss her.

"— are you listening, Ueno-san?"

Hisa smiled at the hint of insecurity she could hear from Mihoko's voice, even if she were too mature to actually give a pout.

"Of course I am," Hisa said easily. "You were talking about how you made a triple batch of macadamia chocolate chip cookies for your club, but didn't realise you only added the original amount of sugar in until the first batch was already baking. Then you decided I wasn't listening and gave me a cute sulky pout."

"I wasn't pouting..."

Hisa grinned at Mihoko, and silently thanked herself for being able to multitask so well.

Because she still wanted to know how it'd be like to kiss Mihoko on her lips.


End file.
